Heading: (Textiles)
Author: Vachoiz, Marie
Title: Cahier de Dentelle
Place Published: [France]
Publisher:
Date Published: [1869]
Description:

80 unnumbered pages. 21.5x17 cm (8½x6¾") original cloth-backed boards.

A manuscript Victorian lace sample book entirely written in a fine and quite legible script by Marie Vachoiz and including 70 original samples of hand-made knitted and lace samples, 68 of them mounted on thick coloured paper and then tipped-in, two tipped-in directly onto the sheets (lightly ruled paper). Title page: "Chahier de Dentelle" in decorative lettering with a string of numerals beneath, dated 1869, and signed "Marie Vachoiz." The quality of the lace presented here represents a significant expertise and polish in producing handmade lace. The text details 81 different patterns in manuscript (with 70 actual samples) and at the end offers a few pages discussing the specifics of producing knitted and crochet laces. An important work in the sense of its teaching parameter, rarely found thus, with examples and copious explanations, in manuscript form, and the extent of these suggest a work perhaps made in anticipation of publication. The superb patterns detailed in elegant cursive include those M. Vachoiz has identified as the Spider, the Laf, Tortoiseshell, the Scale, Pyramids, Snowflake, Valencian, and many others. A superbly preserved survival. Laid in is a fine pen and ink engraving transferred onto gold leaf paper (unknown if this was owned by the author or laid in by a subsequent owner).

Boards somewhat worn at corners, well-preserved internally; very good.