I've had _Cutting for All_ since it was published, and have corresponded
briefly with Kevin Seligman about it. My friend Robb Shep (R. L. Shep
books on costuming) was also involved in the project, and has discussed
it with me.
Kevin Seligman had a large personal collection of works on costuming,
most of which which he has since donated to the library at the LA County
Museum of Arts. This bibliography is partly based on his collection, and
partly on books sold by Robb Shep during the long period when Robb was a
dealer in used costuming books (he has since sold that business to Fred
Struthers, though Fred mostly sells new books these days). Robb said
the bibliography is also based partly on Betty Williams' collection,
which went to the University of Rhode Island after her death.
Kevin Seligman's original plan was to have extensive annotations for
every work. Robb saved many years of his own catalog listings and
annotations, and he said he offered them to Kevin Seligman to use as
needed. But Seligman's publisher did not want to invest in a book that
long, therefore very expensive to print, and which after all would have
a limited specialist audience; and so the publisher insisted that
Seligman cut way down on the annotations.
I too wish Keven Seligman would update _Cutting for All_. A year or so
ago I bought a book from him that the LA Museum had not wanted because
it was a duplicate of one they already had. At that time I asked him if
he had any plans to update _Cutting for All_ soon, and he said no.
Note, for an updated edition to be published, he would have to sell his
publisher on the idea. As this edition is still in print, they will
want to sell out their print run first, even if they plan a new edition
at some point in the future. However, it still might happen someday and
I certainly hope it does. But note that the listings are mostly of
antique sources, and they are not going to get any more outdated than
they are already.
I think it is a very useful bibliography. There are many fewer early
sources listed, quite simply because many fewer early sources were
published. It is in the second half of the 19th century that an
explosion in publishing books and magazines, on pattern cutting as well
as many other subjects, took place. Also, in the 19th century there was
a fever for inventing scientific improvements, and again, this affected
pattern cutting as well as many other things.
Although I would like more annotations to describe what is in a book
before I buy it somewhere on the used market, I think it would have been
completely out of place for Seligman to evaluate the sources for
"veracity" and "usefulness." The bibliography is intended, as far as I
can tell, to be used by everyone with any interest in historic
garment-pattern cutting for any purpose whatever, or even only in books
on the subject. (Used-book dealers often refer to "Seligman," for
example.) Sources useful to some people will necessarily be useless to
many others. It's a list, not a review media.
As for "veracity," most of the sources listed are old, not modern works.
While it is certainly true that the authors of original sources can
make mistakes, be misled, be biased, lie, etc. (being just as human as
modern authors), I'm not sure how you'd apply the concept of "veracity"
to a list of technical works on garment cutting and sewing, which is
what this bibliography is. Certainly, the 19th-century style of titling
books on any subject is bombastic (my favorite book title in this
bibliography is _The Archetypical Consummation_), but I just take that
for granted.
I don't think the intention was ever to list every library that has a
copy of every book, which is another thing that would greatly lengthen
_Cutting for All_. You need to do a library search on a book if it
interests you. I don't know why Seligman listed any libraries at all.
At any rate, I've gotten a great deal of use out of _Cutting for All_ in
building my own collection.
Fran
Lavolta Press Books of Historic Patterns
http://www.lavoltapress.com
Suzanne wrote:
My final observation is that there is no attempt to evaluate any of
these sources. They are all presented without comment as to their
veracity and/or usefulness. He did borrow annotations from other
bibliographies but these are indicated by letter codes that are
explained in the Introduction.
Questions?
Suzanne
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
h-costume@mail.indra.com
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
