The Holker Album

Textile Samples and Industrial Espionage in the 18th Century

Ariane Fennetaux, John Styles

$135

Hardback

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English

Les Arts Decoratifs
01 April 2023

History of fashion; Antiques & collectables: carpets, rugs & textiles

In 1751, John Holker (1719-1786), an English textile manufacturer exiled in France, undertook an industrial espionage mission to England to collect samples of English textiles on behalf of the French king, Louis XV. On his return, the samples were assembled in a manuscript volume, which is now preserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Each sample in this album is accompanied by a handwritten technical description specifying the quality of the fabric, its price, its dimensions and the manufacturing processes. This album is famous for preserving the oldest identifiable samples of jean fabric.

Completely bilingual, the book includes a facsimile reproduction of the album, accompanied by a transcription of its handwritten text and a dozen essays. The essays, written by academics, curators and specialists from France, Britain, and North America, explore the album from various angles: the globalisation of commerce, the slave trade, industrial espionage, economic rivalry between France and England, the taste for cotton and its role in the history of fashion, etc. The book demonstrates the importance of centuries-old links between France and the United Kingdom and is an indispensable work of reference for the history of textiles.

Text in English and French.

AUTHORS: Ariane Fennetaux is Associate Professor in British history at Université Paris Cité. Her research and publications focus on material culture with a particular emphasis on textiles and dress. Her book, The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives 1660-1900, co-authored with Barbara Burman, was published in 2019 by Yale University Press.

John Styles is Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Hertfordshire and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He specialises in the history of material life, manufacturing and design. His books include The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England, published by Yale University Press in 2007, and Threads of Feeling: The London Foundling Hospital's Textile Tokens, 1740-1770, published by the London Foundling Museum in 2010.

SELLING POINTS: .

A high quality facsimile reproduction .

Essays written by leading specialists in economic history, textile techniques, the global cotton trade, technology transfer, and fashion .

Many appendices: Translation of the manuscript in English, Technical analysis of the samples, Glossary, Indexes, etc. .

An indispensable reference work for the study of the history of textiles and fashion on the eve of the Industrial Revolution

170 colour illustrations

Edited by: Ariane Fennetaux, John Styles
Imprint: Les Arts Decoratifs
Country of Publication: France
Dimensions: Height: 370mm, Width: 250mm,
Weight: 2.253kg
ISBN: 9782916914879
ISBN 10: 2916914870
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 01 April 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

ESSAYS John Holker and the making of the Livre d’échantillons. By Ariane Fennetaux & John Styles The Holker album and Lancashire cotton textiles. By John Styles John Holker, an entrepreneur at Rouen. By Serge Chassagne John Holker as inspector of manufactures. By Philippe Minard The chemistry of colours circa 1750. By Liliane Hilaire-Pérez John Holker, technical innovation and the hot cylinder press. By Philip A. Sykas The Holker album in a global context. By Giorgio Riello Chintz, cambric, and a counterfeit silk handkerchief: printed textiles in the Holker album. By John Styles Deep blue, fiery red, and apricot yellow: colour, imperial markets and the global textile trade. By Beverly Lemire And cotton became fashionable. By Denis Bruna The English origin of jeans. By Pascale Gorguet Ballesteros FACSIMILE OF THE HOLKER ALBUM APPENDICES Translation of the transcription Technical analysis Glossary Bibliography Index List of illustrations

Ariane Fennetaux is Associate Professor in British history at Université Paris Cité. Her research and publications focus on material culture with a particular emphasis on textiles and dress. Her book, The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women’s Lives 1660-1900, co-authored with Barbara Burman, was published in 2019 by Yale University Press. John Styles is Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Hertfordshire and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He specialises in the history of material life, manufacturing and design. His books include The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England, published by Yale University Press in 2007, and Threads of Feeling: The London Foundling Hospital’s Textile Tokens, 1740-1770, published by the London Foundling Museum in 2010.