A Practical Guide for the Tailor's Cutting-Room; Being a Treatise of Measuring and Cutting Clothing in All Styles, and For Every Period of Life from Childhood to Old Age

COUTS, Joseph

Published by Blackie & Son, Glasgow, 1848

About this Item

~Missing one b/w plate (Boys' Clothing) supplied in print-out. Original half black calf, blind and gilt decor to spine, black gilt label to spine. Marbled paper to boards. Wear to board and spine edges; board corners slightly pushed in. Some rubbing and marking to boards. Hinges sound. 4to (22.7 x 27.9cm). Undated; date from WorldCat. This is the second, expanded edition: a much shorter 36pp. version had been published in 1843. 25 lithographed plates, of which 13 are hand-coloured. In-text illus. 17 diagrams of a total of 18 called for (plates being numbered 1-17 but with the first two numbered 1 & 1*): plate 2 is missing, with a printout supplied from an online edition. Text block cracked at gutter before plate 12, with pl. 12 partially detached at lower gutter. Moderate foxing, especially to endpapers and uncoloured plates. An early work on tailoring, remarkable for its striking illustrations and engaging text: 'no other author I have met with has adopted the colloquial style of instruction', says Bowyer (p. 155), and indeed Couts' text, while technically precise - Bowyer remarks that evidently the author 'was a thoroughly practical tailor' (p. 156) - is also vivid and amusing in its reports of contemporary manners, costumes, and the foibles of his customers. 'This, let me tell you, is man as he is made by the tailor', Couts writes in his description of plate VI: '(f)ashion has moulded his body into a shape not unlike that of an ant' (p. 87). '(T)he book is well printed and forms a handsome volume' (Bowyer p. 156); it is also a fascinating record of early Victorian fashions and society. Couts covers clothing for children and women, as well as a wide range of tailoring for men, including cutting clothes for people with various disabilities (pl. XIV), military uniforms, and 'Highland costumes' for a 'fancy dress ball' (pl. XVI). This copy is marked out by the fact that an early owner was clearly in the fashion trade: it has loose inserts of: 1) folded hand-drawn diagram of breeches, based on diagram 6 (at p. 1), and 2) a hand-drawn paper tape measure (at p. 133): Couts records that he was in part responsible for introducing the tape measure to Glasgow in 1809 (p. 5). Bowyer, The History of the Art of Cutting in England, 1887. Abbey, Life 242; Hiler p. 200; Seligman 1845.2; Tooley 159. Robust packaging. Overseas orders trackable on request. Size: viii, 166pp. Seller Inventory # QQ0126

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Practical Guide for the Tailor's ...

Publisher: Blackie & Son, Glasgow

Publication Date: 1848

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st edn thus.

Book Type: Binding sound, text unmarked