Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress

For the text version, the capitalization on the title page was adjusted to attempt to preserve relative importance of the text on the page. Chapter descriptions in the Table of Contents were changed from all caps to Title Case. Small caps elsewhere were converted to all caps. Gesperrt (spaced out lettering), used in various places in the front matter, and for chapter numbers, was not retained.

Words in italics are surrounded by underscores.

Punctuation varies widely and was kept as printed; most other inconsistencies were kept as printed. Inconsistencies in spelling retained, along with the few corrections made, are listed at the end of this text.

The original plates do not have captions. To make it easier for the reader to check the text against the description of the figures, the contents of each "List of Illustrations" entry has been copied into the illustration tag for the corresponding plate. Except for the frontispiece (Pl. 1), the captions for the plates have been moved from the original mid-paragraph placement to between paragraphs.

Figure 1. Head-dress of Lady Ardene. 2. A kind of hat. 3. Steeple head-dress. 4, 6. Head-dresses of Lady Rolestone. 5. Heart-shaped head-dresses. 7, 8. Head-dresses of the time of Henry VIII. 9, 11. Hats of the time of George II. 10. Nithsdale hood. 12. Hat of the time of William III. 13, 14. Hats of the time of Charles I. 15, 16, 17. Head-dresses of 1798. 18. Head-dress of 1700. 19. Head-dress of the time of Henry VI. 20. Combination of figs. 7, 8. 21, 22. Hats for ladies in 1786. 23. Style of 1785. 24, 25, 26. Style of 1782. ]

DRESS AS A FINE ART.

WITH SUGGESTIONS ON CHILDREN'S DRESS.

By MRS. MERRIFIELD.

With an Introduction on HEAD DRESS.

By Prof. Fairholt.

BOSTON: JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.

CLEVELAND, OHIO: JEWETT, PROCTOR, AND WORTHINGTON.

1854.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by JOHN P. JEWETT & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts

PRESS OF GEO. C. RAND, WOOD CUT AND BOOK PRINTER, CORNHILL, BOSTON.

STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

PREFACE.

The fact that we derive our styles of dress from the same source as the English, and that the work of Mrs. Merrifield has been circulated among the forty thousand subscribers of the "London Art Journal," might perhaps be deemed sufficient apology for offering it in its present form to the American public. It has received the unqualified approbation of the best publications in this country;--entire chapters having been copied into the periodicals of the day; this added to the above, and also to the high standing of the author, has induced the publishers to offer it to the great reading public of this country.

The chapter on Head-dresses, which commences the book, is of much interest in itself, and affords an explanation of many of the descriptions in the body of the work.

The closing chapter, on Children's Dress, by Mrs. Merrifield, will be deemed of more value by most persons than the cost of the entire work.

A few verbal alterations only have been made in the original;--the good sense of every reader will enable him to understand the local allusions, and where they belong to England alone, to make the application.

CONTENTS.

PAGE CHAPTER I. Description of Head-Dresses, 1