Book Review: Wearable Prints 1760-1860

Wearable Prints, 1760-1860 by Susan W. Greene

Wearable Prints, 1760-1860 by Susan W. Greene

Contrary to its size and appearance, this is not another encyclopedia of fabrics.

Instead, it's a 540-page overview of a century worth of fabric printing technology. A lavishly illustrated overview. And the appendices are a treasure, including a glossary of (historic-scientific) terms, charts comparing the different dyes/inks used to print different colors, timelines of when different dyestuffs were popular, etc.

The book's main divisions look at the historic background/an overview of printed dress goods (2 chapters), the dyes used c.1760-1860 (4 chapters), and the machines/technology used for printing on fabric (4 chapters). Within each, full-color modern photographs of antique garments/swatchbooks (and the odd quilt) are plentiful. As with What Clothes Reveal, the writing is highly informative, and the images really work with the text to clarify and illustrate the topic at hand, whether it's the characteristic details of copper vs. woodblock print, or fives pages of discharge prints in Turkey red and madder shades.

The combination of a large book and a (relatively) narrow year range means there is a lot of room to focus on details and nuance of textile prints, and that multiple examples are included for each point. That being said, layout isn't particularly conducive to scanning for a examples to compare.  It isn't Textile Designs where you can look up "paisley" and find a dozen goauches across decades, nor yet is it Dating Fabrics or America's Printed Fabrics where you can browse designs by year-range. Instead, I think this book is really equipping the reader to analyze the color schemes and printing characteristics of a fabric--to pinpoint why a given design 'looks' 1840s versus 1810s.

I think the most effective way to use this book for fabric identification is to read it all through once.  Then, use the summaries and timelines to estimate the dyes/printing techniques, and by this narrow the probable date range. Then, go back to the chapter to compare with the different examples.

TL:DR--Get your own copy, and fill it with sticky notes.

Stars: 5

Accuracy: High. So many original printed fabrics! And the citations are swoon-worthy.

Overall Impression: It's not the most 'plug-and-play' textile reference, but I think it's the most powerful. There's a great deal of useful information, and I think this book makes a good companion to the more encyclopedic books (by explaining the techniques, as well as by providing additional reference images). Honestly, if I was focusing somewhere within the 1760-1860 time frame and could only have one print reference book, this would be it.