The Tailor's Guide; A Complete System of Cutting every kind of Garment to Measure. Containing upwards of Five Hundred Diagrams.

COMPAING, Charles & Louis Devere.

Published by London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1855-56

First edition of this widely influential and innovative guide employing the "direct to measure system incorporating their plate of graduated inches [containing] instructions for drafting all articles and styles of men's garments including liveries" (Seligman). Institutionally scarce, with perhaps ten locations world wide, and just a single appearance at auction, that in 1893. The present set is unusually well-preserved for such tailoring texts. Derived from the revolutionary theories of Compaing's father Guillaume, first published as L'Art du Tailleur in 1828, the Guide was offered bound at 27 shillings, perhaps around £1000 today, or more manageably in "Ten Parts, price 2s 6d each". This was the text that finally established the use of the graduated ruler in pattern-cutting, which greatly simplified any calculations to be made during drafting. As the authors explain, "we think it would be a mere waste of words to go into any discussion as to whether the principle we have adopted. is superior to nearly a hundred other different methods which have been invented, and again lost sight of" (p. 2). Giles, the earliest historian of the art, seems to concur completely with the aims of the book and its success in achieving them, "A very important addition to out trade literature. Messrs C. & D.'s system is both unique and original. their works descend to the minutest details, which make them rank amongst the most complete and best representatives of measurement principles that we possess" (p. 178-79). With further refinements - reducing the number of measures required from the original 24 of Compaing père, to 17 in the present work to 6 by 1866 - Devere and Compaing's text was in print until at least 1886, and has recently been reprinted in accurate facsimile by the Merchant Tailor Museum in Colorado. It's wider impact can be measured by the publication of an American edition in 1857, and a Japanese adaptation "positioned as a textbook aimed at introducing techniques to the general public" issued in 1885 (Sasazaki & Fujita). At the time of publication Louis Devere was the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine of Fashion, which was established in 1828. The early issues had "contained coloured fashion plates, descriptions of the plates, observations on the present fashion, and novelties of gentlemen's dress" (Seligman, p. 18), and while there were sporadic issues with plates of patterns, there was no consistent policy of innovation in this direction. But when Devere took over as editor in 1847 he revolutionised the periodical, "His influence was immediate. pattern drafts and descriptions and instructions for drafting and cutting appeared monthly. By January 1849, in addition to the plates, one or two full-size cut tissue pattern supplements were included with each issue" (p. 19). His innovative approach carried over to the present work, where the pioneering technical work of the Compaings was more than matched by Devere's promotional skills and originality of presentation. Seligman, Cutting for All!, 1855.1. Edward B. Giles, The History of the Art of Cutting in England, 1887; Ayano Sasazaki & Keiko Fujita, "How The Tailor's Guide Was Received in Men's Clothing Technique Manuals of the Early Meiji Period", Journal of Home Economics of Japan, 2018, 69 (11) 2 vols, small quarto. 44 double-page engraved plates to the second vol. "Plates", retaining the original blue tinted tissue interleaves; the text within a decorative frame throughout. Original very dark yellowish green pimple-grain cloth, lettered in gilt to spines and front boards, foliate panels and central roundels to front and back boards, light yellow surface-paper endpapers. Both vols somewhat rubbed and bumped, Volume II with damping along the lower edges of the boards, extending further on the back with some attendant cockling and loss of colour, both vols with marginal damp-staining to the endpapers, on the plate volume just slightly affecting the last two plates and the fore-edge. Seller Inventory # 169216

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Tailor's Guide; A Complete System of ...
Publisher: London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1855-56
Edition: 1st Edition