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Quarterly Periodical for Tailors
The Philadelphia Fashions & Tailors' Archetypes ... (Philadelphia, PA) 16 issues. 1851-1870.
From the 1830s to 1850s there was a major change in the tailoring industry. Previously, there had been little standardization in measurements and tailors were very secretive about their patterns. Books of instructions on measuring and cutting began appearing on the market developing a reliable system that could by followed by provincial tailors. Patterns also became available.
This extremely rare periodical was published quarterly by Samuel A. Ward and Asahel F. Ward beginning in 1849. It succeeded Allen Ward's Report of Latest Fashions, Protractor System & Tailors. Archetypes. Each issue contained at least one lithographed plate of patterns for the latest fashions. Subscribers could purchase an annual subscription, with either plain or colored plates, or individual issues, plain or colored. For an additional fee "When oral instruction is given, $5 will be charged for tuition, to those unacquainted with the system." It also included a list of tailors' supplies that could be ordered. Based on the list of collecting agents and testimonials given, tailors in the provincial regions could easily get patterns allowing them to make clothes of the latest east coast fashions.
Also included in the purchase was a large
protractor (12 ½") manufactured by the Wards to be used for garment
cutting, and the manuscript measure book of William B. Avery of
Charlemont, MA dated 1860-1867.
Purchased from Steve Finer. Harry
G.
Stoddard Memorial Fund.
-Vincent Golden, Curator of Newspapers and Periodicals
"One day I am visited by a collector of ordination sermons; the next, by
a collector of 4th of July orations; then comes a collector of geography;
another wants religious newspapers; another wants every book printed in
New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I want every thing
and collect every thing, and I have more zeal than the whole of them: and
in this way I am kept very busy."
~Christopher Columbus Baldwin
3rd Librarian of AAS
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