Material Literacy in Eighteenth-Century Britain: A Nation of Makers

Description

The eighteenth century has been hailed for its revolution in consumer culture, but Material Literacy in Eighteenth-Century Britain repositions Britain as a nation of makers. It brings new attention to eighteenth-century craftswomen and men with its focus on the material knowledge possessed not only by professional artisans and amateur makers, but also by skilled consumers. This edited collection gathers together a group of interdisciplinary scholars working in the fields of art history, history, literature, and museum studies to unearth the tactile and tacit knowledge that underpinned fashion, tailoring, and textile production. It invites us into the workshops, drawing rooms, and backrooms of a broad range of creators, and uncovers how production and tacit knowledge extended beyond the factories and machines which dominate industrial histories. This book illuminates, for the first time, the material literacies learnt, enacted, and understood by British producers and consumers. The skills required for sewing, embroidering, and the textile arts were possessed by a large proportion of the British population: men, women and children, professional and amateur alike. Building on previous studies of shoppers and consumption in the period, as well as narratives of manufacture, these essays document the multiplicity of small producers behind Britain's consumer revolution, reshaping our understanding of the dynamics between making and objects, consumption and production. It demonstrates how material knowledge formed an essential part of daily life for eighteenth-century Britons. Craft technique, practice, and production, the contributors show, constituted forms of tactile languages that joined makers together, whether they produced objects for profit or pleasure. Cover Contents List of Figures List of Plates List of Tables Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements 1. Introduction Serena Dyer and Chloe Wigston Smith 2. ‘Work’d pocketts to my intire sattisfaction’: Women and the
multiple literacies of making Ariane Fennetaux 3. Needlework verse Crystal B. Lake 4. Domestic crafts at the School of Arts Chloe Wigston Smith 5. ‘To embroider what is wanting’: Making, consuming and mending textiles in the lives of the Bluestockings Nicole Pohl 6. Material literacies of home comfort in Georgian England Jon Stobart 7. Stitching and shopping: The material literacy of the consumer Serena Dyer 8. Stitching the it-narrative in The History and Adventures of a Lady’s
Slippers and Shoes Alicia Kerfoot 9. Making, measuring and selling in Hampshire: The provincial
tailor’s accounts of George and Benjamin Ferrey Sarah Howard 10. Gendered making and material knowledge: Tailors and
mantua-makers, c. 1760–1820 Emily Taylor 11. Dress and dressmaking: Material evolution in Regency
dress construction Hilary Davidson 12. Fancy feathers: The feather trade in Britain and the Atlantic world Elisabeth Gernerd 13. Tomahawks and scalping knives: Manufacturing savagery in Britain Robbie Richardson 14. The lady vanishes: Madame Tussaud’s self-portrait and material legaciesLaura Engel 15. Learning to craft Beth Fowkes Tobin Select Bibliography Index