CLOTHING

[Doris Langley Moore, fashion historian and Byron scholar.] Typed Letter Signed, three Typed Cards Signed and Typed Note to Philip Dosse, publisher of Books and Bookmen, discussing Byron's family, reviews, and a 'personal disclosure'.

Author: 
Doris Langley Moore [n?e Doris Elizabeth Langley Levy] (1902-1989), fashion historian and founder of the Fashion Museum at Bath, authority on Lord Byron [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher]
Publication details: 
1976 and 1977. All items with her printed address 5 Prince Albert Road, London NW1.
£180.00

An interesting range of content. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ?Death of a Bookman? by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ?Books and Bookmen? at the time of Dosse?s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The letter, with her printed letterhead, is somewhat worn and creased, the other four items are in good condition. Three items (including the letter) signed ?Doris Moore? and one ?DLM?.

[ Fashion; Edwardian; Ist WW ] A woman's clothing account (manuscript notebook).

Author: 
Anon.
Publication details: 
1899-1925.
£200.00

Manuscript Notebook, stiff card binding, 74pp. used, c.17 items listed per page, description of clothes and materials, and cost, total cost given at the end of each page. Author unidentified, but occasional biographical entries (e.g "Left Ireland/ Bournemouth" (1900), "W. gave me pair of corsets" (1924)), obviously well-to-do and ultimately at least middle-aged (corsets needed in 1924). Sample page (Sept. 1916-Jan/Feb 1917) "Sepr Dressmaker (May) £4/ Hat (black velvet tri-corner & gold ornament 1.10/ Veil 2[s]3[d]/Navy coat Frock 8/8/- 8.15.6/ Nov.

[ The Spanish textiles industry. ] Manufacturer's sample book, containing in excess of 2000 examples of clothing labels

Author: 
[ Spanish clothing labels; textiles; fashion industry of Spain ]
Publication details: 
Spanish. Undated (1920's onwards?). Containing loosely inserted material dating from 1949 and 1962.
£950.00

The collection consists of more than 2000 labels, laid down on 117pp of a substantial, heavy and thumb-indexed folio volume (38 X 27 X 7 cm), bound in brown cloth. The collection is in good condition, with the inevitable signs of age, in heavily aged and worn binding. Loosely inserted are seven pieces of card and one of paper, carrying around 50 more examples, and three more pieces of paper with sixteen examples of woven coloured ribbon, as well as three enlarged folded grid designs for the weaving of labels.

['Restricted' War Office publication.] Instructions regarding Kit and Equipment for Officers. 1944.

Author: 
'By Command of the Army Council' [The War Office, Whitehall; British government publications; Second World War]
Publication details: 
The War Office [Whitehall], 2nd February, 1944. ['Notified in A.C.Is.']
£100.00

[1] + 15pp., 12mo. Stapled pamphlet. In fair condition, on aged paper, with vertical fold. Divided into 17 sections (including 'Sub-Tropical and Tropical Climates', 'Compensation for Loss or Damage' and 'Weight of Clothing and Equipment'), under the main headings: 'Uniform - Home Service' and 'Method of obtaining Uniform, etc.' Three appendices, including 'List of Uniform Officers are Required to Provide during the Present Emergency' and 'Weights of Principal Items of Officers' Clothing and Equipment'.

[Victorian garment manufacture.] Manuscript volume ('E. J. Walker | Notes Private | A. P. M.') covering all aspects of the Victorian garment industry, with costings, tables of sizings and prices, records of wages, patterns

Author: 
E. J. Walker, Victorian garment manufacturer [clothing; fashion industry]
Publication details: 
English, late nineteenth century. (Tentatively dated in pencil to 1892.)
£450.00

Circa 220pp., 8vo, with the main text on rectos, and additions and subheadings (often in red ink), together with some simple pencil patterns, on versos. In ruled exercise book. In good condition, on aged paper, in worn original glazed black cloth binding. The volume has been compiled for his own use by a Victorian factory manager, and contains material relating to clothing for men, women and children. The seventeen entries on the first 41pp.

[Henry James Mitchell, naval tailor of Portsmouth.] Autograph Letter to him, in the third person, by 'Mr Cust', giving instructions for 'Master Custs best uniform' and other requirements as midshipman.

Author: 
[Henry James Mitchell, Tailor and Woollen Draper, 32 High Street, Portsmouth; Midshipman Cust; Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. Postmark dated 24 April 1837.
£65.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Reverse of second leaf with wax seal, postmark and address to 'Mr. Mitchell | High Street | Portsmouth'. The letter begins: 'Mr Cust wishes Mr Mitchell to send up Master Custs best uniform coat & waistcoat, & if any difference from those he has got the Trowsers; as soon as possible.' He complains that the shirts 'do not sit quite neat about the collar', before listing more requirements: '1 Pewter hand Bason, & cup. | 2 Bars common soap. | 1 Packet Windsor Do. | 2 Pair of Braces | 2 Log Books size for 3 yrs | 1 Watch Bill Book | 2 Bottles of Ink.

Volume of manuscript accounts of a Ladies' Department Store, listing substantial sums under Lace, Dresses, Wrappers, Silks, Gloves, Furs, Umbrellas, Haberdashery, Trimmings, Jackets, Millinery, Underclothing, Costumes.

Author: 
[Victorian and Edwardian Ladies' Department Store, 1897-1909; women's fashion; clothing]
Publication details: 
Without place, in account book with label of 'Clements, Newling & Co. Stationers & Printers and Account Book Makers &c. 96, Wood St., London, E.C.' Entries dating from between 1897 and 1909.
£380.00

353pp., small 4to. In brown calf half-binding, with marbled endpapers, and title 'DISSECTING BOOK' in gilt on red leather label on spine. In very good condition, clean and tight, in lightly-worn binding. Neatly written out throughout in the same hand, with pencil running totals added in a second hand.

Unpublished youthful autograph poem by Sylvia Lynd [née Sylvia Dryhurst], dealing in a humorous style with the perils of buying footwear in Edwardian Finchley, North London, beginning: 'By some devil surely sent | Sandal hunting off I went'.

Author: 
Sylvia Lynd [née Sylvia Dryhurst] (1888-1952), Anglo-Irish poet, novelist and essayist, wife of the Irish essayist Robert Lynd (1879-1949)
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [London, before 1909.]
£135.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifiolium of ruled paper, with 'HIERATICA' watermark of 'J. S. & Co.' From the Lynd archive, and judging from the handwriting a youthful effort, almost-certainly dating from before Sylvia Dryhurst's marriage to Robert Lynd in 1909. In fair condition, on aged paper. In seven stanzas, the first three giving a taste of an amusing and unusual jeu d'esprit and excellent piece of Edwardian social history: '1) By some devil surely sent | Sandal hunting off I went, | And my footsteps never slowed | Till I reached the Finchley Road. | Chorus: (with fervour) Damn them ! | Damn them !

Anonymous eighteenth-century Manuscript Poem titled 'How to pack a Lady's Portmanteau', with verse postscript, 'How to do a Gentlemans D[itt]o'.

Author: 
[Eighteenth-century poem titled 'How to pack a Lady's Portmanteau'; Georgian fashion; Hanoverian dress; clothes; clothing]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [late eighteenth century?].
£280.00

1p., 12mo. On one side of a piece of 18 x 10 cm paper, laid down on leaf removed from commonplace book, with a clue to provenance on the reverse, provided by the part of a family tree of James Carmichael laid down there, including 'Carmichael of Balmedy', 'Tho. Graeme of Balyowan' and 'Mr Ja. Smyth of Aitherny'. Fair, on aged paper. A delightful poem, apparently unpublished, and a valuable piece of social history, containing a couple of manuscript emendations.

Manuscript of humorous poem 'The Chapter of Fashions | Written by T Dibdin' [Thomas John Dibdin], on the history of clothing and Regency dress, with variations from the printed versions, including an extra stanza.

Author: 
Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright, illegitimate son of dramatist Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), brother of songwriter Charles Dibdin (1768-1833) [Regency dress; Georgian clothing; fashion]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1802?].
£350.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Divided into eight four-line stanzas, each with the same two-line refrain. The first stanza: 'Fashion was formed when the World began, | And Adam I am told was a very smart man, | As for Eve I shall say nothing more or less. | |But that Ladies of Fashion now copy her dress. | Yet barring all pother of this that & tother we all bow to Fashion in turn'. Containing witty references to the fashion for hunting boots and crops, New Bond Street, Tudor and Stuart clothing, Whigs and Tories.

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