Material Literacy in 18th-Century Britain

Serena Dyer is Lecturer in History of Design and Material Culture at De Montfort University, UK. She has published on albums, wallpaper, consumer culture and childhood in the eighteenth century. Her book, Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the Eighteenth Century, is forthcoming with Bloomsbury. Chloe Wigston Smith is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Related Literature and the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York, UK. She is the author of Women, Work, and Clothes in the Eighteenth-Century Novel (2013), as well as articles on women in literature, material culture studies and fashion culture.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements

1. Introduction, Serena Dyer (De Montfort University, UK) and Chloe Wigston Smith (University of York, UK)

2. ‘Work’d pockets to my entire satisfaction’: Women and the Multiple Literacies of Making, Ariane Fennetaux (University of Paris, France)

3. Needlework Verse, Crystal B. Lake (Wright State University, USA)

4. Domestic Crafts at the School of Arts, Chloe Wigston Smith (University of York, UK)

5. ‘To Embroider what is Wanting’: Making, Consuming and Mending Textiles in the Lives of the Bluestockings, Nicole Pohl (Oxford Brookes University, UK)

6. Material Literacies of Home Comfort in Georgian England, Jon Stobart (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

7. Stitching and Shopping: The Material Literacy of the Consumer, Serena Dyer (De Montfort University, UK)

8. Stitching the It-Narrative in The History and Adventures of a Lady’s Slippers and Shoes, Alicia Kerfoot (SUNY Brockport, USA)

9. Making, Measuring and Selling in Hampshire: The Provincial Tailor’s Accounts of George and Benjamin Ferrey, Sarah Howard (Independent Scholar, UK)

10. Gendered Making and Material Knowledge: Tailors and Mantua-Makers, c. 1760–1820, Emily Taylor (National Museums Scotland, UK)

11. Dress and Dressmaking: Material Evolution in Regency Dress Construction, Hilary Davidson (University of Sydney, Australia)

12. Fancy Feathers: The Feather Trade in Britain and the Atlantic World, Elisabeth Gernerd (Historic Royal Palaces, UK)

13. Tomahawks and Scalping Knives: Manufacturing Savagery in Britain, Robbie Richardson (University of Kent, UK)

14. The Lady Vanishes: Madame Tussaud’s Self Portrait and Material Legacies, Laura Engel (Duquesne University, USA)

15. Learning to Craft, Beth Fowkes Tobin (University of Georgia, USA)

Select Bibliography
Index