Prefaces in Victorian knitting books

MA History dissertation finally finished. The submitted title was "Knitting as a leisure activity for early Victorian middle-class women 1837-1851". The research confirmed the initial peak of knitting book publishing was in the 1840s, with the exception of the 'Knitting Teachers Assistant' which seems to have first been published in 1817. The digitisation of books over the last 20 years, and the increase in catalogued archive contents has increased the availability of copies of knitting books from the nineteenth century. There were several books published that included reference to Queen Victoria and the Great Exhibition in their title. There seems to be a correlation with the most prolific and successful authors of knitting books also being being shop owners for wool warehouses that also teach knitting and crochet. I've found lots of interesting information about the author Frances Lambert, and found no evidence that Miss Frances Lambert is related in any way to Miss A Lambert. Now the dissertation is written and submitted I'm going to work through the notes to write a less-academic, more everyday-readable version of the interesting findings. Some I will submit to the Knitting and Crochet Guild newsletter, and others will appear here. What I certainly found is that the prefaces of Victorian knitting books contain a wealth of information about the authors and the social changes occurring at the time, and I would encourage their use for other researchers to ponder.

Here are a few prefaces that can be read online:

The ladies' knitting and netting book, 1838

https://archive.org/details/krl00376333/page/n5

The lady's assistant for executing useful and fancy designs in knitting, netting and crotchet work, Mrs Gaugain, 1840

https://archive.org/details/krl00394037/page/n3

My knitting book, Miss Lambert, 1844

https://archive.org/details/krl00394035/page/n5

The illuminated book of needlework: comprising knitting, netting, crochet and embroidery, Mrs Henry Owen, 1847

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=caia.ark:/13960/t5gb3726s&view=2up&seq=10

The workwoman's guide, containing instructions to the inexperienced in cutting out and completing those articles of wearing apparel, &c., which are usually made at home; also, explanation on upholstery, straw-platting, bonnet-making, knitting, &c., by a lady, 1838

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c056087961&view=2up&seq=4

Miss Frances Lambert biography in progress

In the last blog post it was noted that reviewing knitting books from the nineteenth century was in progress. The review resulted in a successful application to study a part-time MA in History at the University of Reading to investigate the wider issues of gender, class, and socio-economics of knitting book publishing. Since starting the course, the research has widened to include all knitting books published prior to World War 1. Reading has, within the Special Collections hosted at the Museum for English Rural Life (MERL), several copies of texts from this period. Reading also has strong research experience with gender history, book publishing history, corpus linguistics, and printed ephemera, including recent collaboration with the John Johnson collection at the Bodleian.

Having analysed Esther Potter's bibliography and Richard Rutt's 'A History of Hand Knitting', I was frustrated with the lack of biographical information sufficient to obtain a clear view of the class and socio-economic status of the author Miss Frances Lambert, who was one of the earliest successful authors of knitting, crochet and needlework books. A thorough biographical research project was initiated, which is 80% complete. Sufficient evidence has been collated to confirm when Miss Frances Lambert was born, when she married John Bell Sedgwick (a bedell at The Royal College of Physicians), and the addresses lived at between the marriage, and her death in her 80's. Corrections were submitted to the British Library Catalogue, as some entries had incorrectly been attributed to Miss A Lambert. A full biography is in progress, with anticipation of submission to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which currently lacks biographies of female writers in the nineteenth century.

I have catalogued five archive boxes held in the John Johnson collection at the Bodleian in Oxford. The John Johnson collection absorbed the contents of the Constance Meade collection that is referenced by Potter. The fancy work boxes had yet to be catalogued. The contents have now been logged and photographed, and will be submitted for consideration to be absorbed into the existing online catalogue, to aid future researchers.

The 'In The Loop 2018' conference is taking place at the Winchester School of Art this week. The conference programme is available on the 'In The Loop' website.