* THE LADY'S WORLD EMBROIDERY BOOK NO.3 , LONDON, 1886

This year I will be showing some of my books and magazines that date as early as from 1843.

I start with a magazine created in 1886 , THE LADY'S WORLD  .

This magazine was later renamed as THE WOMAN'S WORLD and hosted famous editors like the poet Oscar Wilde. 

Before we review this first item I would like to state that Oscar Wilde was not only one of the best poets in the History of Literature but he also was an intellectual who was violently arrested,sentenced to incarceration and publicly humiliated for his sexual orientation - at the time , private as it was,. illegal. Other fellow poets who were supposedly lynched because of his sexual orientation was Garcia Lorca.

Men like Oscar Wilde and Garcia Lorca , though non-straight never oppressed women, au contraire Oscar Wilde worked as editor of a magazine that voiced women in all their grace and glory. Me as blogger and my blog features many book reviews by men and as fully inclusive of all designers, I am also fully inclusive and respectful of people who died because of how God made them. So RIP Oscar Wilde. Now moving on...

The issues I own are all prior to Oscar Wilde joining the magazine. 

 If you wish to follow my blog posts reviews for these items ( which you can also find in places like the Met Museum) you can guide yourself by the titles that have * before the title. 

Today I start with one of a few of my unique items, a magazine dating back to 1886 THE LADY'S WORLD  BOOK No. 3.

Here are some pictures of my Issue 3 . Please scroll down to continue my review

The pictures rotated according to their own mood!My apologies but let's move on.

As a crafter I can tell you that though this magazine is way pre First World War, the only difference between crafters at the time and crafters today, like myself when I can, is that the fashion sense changed. My Facebooker crafters from Hungary, Russia, Brazil etc still do all these craft bases for clothes and garments. 

Would these women back to 1886 shy away from embroidery sewing machines? Possibly not, due to automation in consequence of higher demand  - remember that as per this magazine there were already several shops advertising and supplying many family households with ready-made embroidery and lace garments , bedding and lining.

What about crochet and knitting? The same applies as above: I would not crochet a CROCHET GOLF COAT WITH BASQUE as per presented on page 17 of the magazine I am reviewing today , but I would crochet other items I already crocheted for myself, as  a two metres blanket for my sofa. 

What about time spent and rentability? Due to sight loss concerns I am certain most crafters at the time like the one's of today would be aware of the damages causes to the sight by executing needlepoint during late night. But as then as today , we crafters have access to lenses amplifiers. Furthermore, women had mostly the weight of housework but at the time there were already househelpers and today we have machines and couples sharing housework tasks.

The common element I notice is that is still enjoyable to do our own items at our own time and that in itself is priceless and intemporal!

Hope you enjoyed my review and no need to remind me that I must hand my books to museums as obviously a great slice of my books are no longer available and would be more useful digitalised. Separation is painful but will take place - eventually :)

Until next time ,

Best wishes,

Ariane