“Machines may well produce those necessities of life that require but little thought in their production, yet there is much that machinery can never accomplish”.
WARNER, H. H. Songs of the Spindle & Legends of the Loom. London: N. J. Powel & Co. 1889.
FIRST & LIMITED EDITION. (160 x 145 mm) pp. 32. Printed in brown ink with 11 illustrations embellishing the text. Linen cover with title and motif stamped on front, flax flower stamped on back. Some browning to fore-edge of binding, and mirrored browning to front and back fly leaves (intentional?). Overall VERY GOOD condition.
This book stands as a testament to the Arts and Crafts Movement, a revival of craftsmanship in the face of industrialisation and the rise of machine-automated tasks. The use of unbleached linen— the colour of dried flax— and handmade linen-rag paper create an authentic medium for conveying the simple and powerful importance of this textile in the British landscape.
What follows is a series of excerpts from literature relating to the importance of weaving, embellished by different styles of illustration from lithographic to xylographic, to borders with imagery hailing from the Renaissance to Early Insular Medieval.
All who were involved in the various stages of production— from the textile to the book-- are named and given credit.
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