Page 27 - May1954

1\iay, 1954 NATIONAL BUTTON BULLETIN 2t7

TEXTILE BUTTONS IN BACK ISSUES
The back files of the Bulletin are rich in material on textile buttons.
There are original articles on speciflc as well as genera.l topics; there are
reprint alticles drarvn from both standard and obscure soni"e.; there are
excerpts from trade reports; miscellaneous arLicles contain scattered para-
eraphs on textiles; many excellent photographs and drawings illuslrate
the topic.
True, this material has to be dug out and, equally true, it takes skilrful
reading. For reasons that are abundanily clear, the reader rnust remember
that he is not studying chapters in a text book; he has a.n anthologlr, the
contents of 'w'hich he must carefully interpret and evaluate. sorne articles
are made obscure by trade jargon which has to be deciphered; others are
dilncult reading for us because \\e no longer recognize button types that
lvere conlrnon when the articles were written; some are pioneer efforts
to explore a neglected fleld r'ithout fully adequate equipment for the job.
Ali in all, we are doing fleld work here.
Perhaps at some future date our scattered articles and others like
then will have served their usefulness and become the basis for a singie,
-ali
complete account of textile buttons. until that day, we need to keep
that we have easily accessible and it is with that in mind that the following
fuibiiography was prepared. It lists valuable articles by tiile and location
and briefly describes each one.
1944
April, pp 21-22 FROI\,I THE pENNy MAGAZINE-1840. A reprint of
charles Dickens' description of how thread covers were put on button molds.
1945
April, pp 87-89 CLOTH COVERED BUTTONS, by Thelma Shull. Bits of
fashion nes's about cloth covered buttons from the ones worn by an Engiish
princess in 1613 doq.n to the present. Illustrated by a frame of hand
ernbroidered and woven buttons from the Hanna s. Kohn collectron.
April, pp 90-92 MORE-AEOUT CLOTH COVERED BUTTONS, by L.S.A.
An article about embroidery, calling it to the attention of the button coilector
as an art and a skill.
April, prr 92-93 STEVENGRAPHS-LITTLE PICTURES \VOVEN IN SILK,
by L.S.A. Information about the weaving of pictures commercially.
APTil, pp 95-101 A DETAILED STUDY OF THE ..GOLD EMBROIDERED''
BUTTONS IN THE COOPER UNION MUSEUM, NEW YORK, N. y., by L.S.A.
Describes the gold embroidered buttons in the }luseum and explains the
technique of gold embroidery in detail. Copiously illustrated.
1946
Juiy, pp 204-207 BUTTON-MAKER-LACE-MAKER, (Lon Twain, rrans-
lator and editor) Photostats of the plates in Diderot's L'Encyclopedie, pub-
lished 1751-1772, along l'ith explanatory information derived from the text
in the original. An 18th century account of how passementerie buttons were
tnade accompanied by pictures of the workers and their tools.
1917
January, pD 27-28 X'LORENTINE AND COVERED BUTTONS. Reprinted
from the "Illustrated Exhibitor and Nlagazine of Art,', London, 1g52. De_
tailed description of the machine manufacture of linen buttons. illustrated.
January, pp 47-48 LITTLE PICTURES WOVEN IN SILK, by L.S.A. Follorv-
up of earlier article with long quote from Dickens. Illustiated.