Description
Book SynopsisIn 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.
Table of ContentsESSAYS 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
