Description:
Collector Bookstore is a retailer of new books located in Leavenworth, Kansas. We specialize in price guides and reference books for the antiques and collectibles industry. Table of Contents
OUR NOTES:
Buttons & Sundries: The 20th Century History of Fashion
This book details the development of buttons throughout the 19th & 20th century. Beginning in the European continental countries in the 1800s, this book provides a color pictorial history of buttons and other related closure / clothing attachment devices.
In the late middle ages, buttons were considered a practical matter only, unworthy of attention or detailed craftsmanship. However, this view disappeared when the upper levels of European society began to see buttons as a means of further ornamenting their attire for the purpose of displaying their wealth and (presumed) good taste. As a result, from 1800s to the early 1900s, the “conspicuous consumption” of their age resulted in high quality unique pieces of what perhaps should be jewelry rather than a mere button. The subjects of these pieces include such things as miniature portraits, silhouettes, ornate filigree gold, animal shapes, family coats-of-arms and much more.
Likewise, the Victorian era of America in the late 1800s was filled with some of the most intricate accent pieces found to adorn that perfect floor length gown, to create that mystic aura now captured in portrait plates of that era.
The authors then continue their historic journey through modern design, including the colorful bakelite designs of the 1950s & 1960s. And who could forget the suave, debonair buttonhole found on the suit jackets of the most well-heeled upper class gentlemen living in such places as New York and Boston? Men often used embossed metal buttons proclaiming their affinity for a football team, a politically partisan point of view, or some other “statement” such individuals might wish to make to their peers.
While this book doesn’t provide any prices, button collectors – and perhaps those who hope to buy & sell unique buttons at a profit – will find this reference to be a surprising historical treasure trove of information.
--- John Kincaid, Collector Bookstore
PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:
A world history of buttons, cuff links, studs, badges, and more, beginning with the Middle Ages up to the present.
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