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POINT AND PILLOW LACE X A ft ft MM CJ POINT AND PILLOW LACE A SHORT ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS KINDS ANCIENT AND MODERN, AND HOW TO RECOGNISE THEM BY MARY SHARP LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET PREFACE THE object of this little book is to supply to owners and lovers of Lace some clear information easily referred to, by means of which they can ascertain the true name and nature of any particular specimen. The valuable works of which a list is given on page xiii, as the authorities consulted, are some of them, especially the late Mrs. Pallisers History of Lace, almost exhaustive as to the historical records on the subject, and they also contain a great deal of interesting information concerning the various lace manufactures. Yet the writer has found, in common she believes with others, that a diligent search through many volumes and much inquiry of experts has been necessary before some particular piece of Lace could be identified, even if in the end that identification did not appear doubtful. In the present volume it is hoped that the simple statements distinguishing the features of each variety will enable the reader to recognise them readily, especially as each description is accompanied by an vi PREFACE illustration, on as large a scale as the size of the page will allow, so that the texture of the Lace may be the more easily seen. That description alone, however good, without il lustrations is very insufficient will readily be allowed by anyone who attempts the task of explaining in words the nature and peculiarities of any kind of Lace. Dr. Johnson gives as a definition of net, a texture woven with intersticial vacuities and of network, anything reticulated or decussated, at equaldistances, with interstices between the inter sections. Where the great lexicographer failed to make his meaning more intelligible to simple folk, lesser mortals may well be glacl to eke out their otherwise insufficient explanations by the help of the photographer. One difficulty attendant on the study of Lace must be mentioned. It is that at various times the same kinds of Lace were made in . different localities, each imitating the other. Thus Brussels and AlenQon copied Venice, and Italy in turn adopted the reseau ground in imitation of Flanders nor is the reason far to seek. The laws of supply and demand were in force three hundred years ago as now, and though we are apt to think of the countries of Europe, before the days of railways and steamboats, as isolated, yet PREFACE vii a very cursory study of history is enough to prove that it was far otherwise. The number of travellers was no doubt much less than at present, but the richer classes were socially in constant communication with each other everywhere, as is indeed evidenced by the prevalence of the same fashions in dress throughout Europe at any given time. No sooner did the ladies of Paris in the time of Henry the Fourth adopt the high ruff, than English ladies has tened to do the same and as soon as the Pillow laces of Genoa were admired and found suitable to the falling collars of the succeeding reigns, the lace workers of Flanders were quick in learning . to reproduce the style, in this case so exactly, that but little difference can now be detected between their work and that of the Italians. Lace also was largely made in convents and lace-making was taught in convent schools and the fact that nuns were of allnationalities helps to account for the cosmopolitan character of the Art. It will not be attempted here to decide from what locality any particular Lace may have come, but merely to state on good authority to what style it belongs, and to assist the reader, by a careful de scription of its details, to judge for himself or herself of its character. Of all the decorative works of Art viii PREFACE Lace is by far the most perishable indeed, it may be said that the more beautiful the Lace, the more delicate and more easily destroyed it is...