<<snip...His bibliography includes Thomas Wright and Palliser, neither of which I have, so I can't follow it back>>
Quote from Palliser (reproduction of 4th ed published in 1911 - she died in 1878) (pp294) "Lace now seems to be called indifferently purle, passamayne or bone-work... The origin of this last appellation is generally stated to have been derived from the custom of using sheep's trotters previous to the invention of wooden bobbins. Fuller so explains it, and the various dictionaries have followed his theory. The Devonshire lace-makers, on the other hand, deriving their knowledge from tradition, declare that when lace-making was first introduced into their county, pins, so indispensable to their art, then being sold at a price far beyond their means, the lace-makers, mostly the wives of fishermen living along the coast, adopted the bones of fish, which, pared and cut into regular lengths, fully answered as a substitute. This explanation would seem more probable than that of employing sheep's trotters for bobbins, which, as from 300 to 400 are often used at one time on a pillow, must have been both heavy and cumbersome. Even at the present day pins made from chicken bones continue to be employed in Spain; and bone pins are still used in Portugal. Footnote to above: It is not know when brass wire pins were first made in England, but it must have been before 1543, in which year a statute was passed in which the price was fixed not to exceed 6s 8d. per 1000." Quote from Pillow Lace Bobbins by Jeffery Hopewell (Shire Book 9) "The pins used for lace-making are always brass, because they do not rust. In the early days of the industry, pins were expensive, 6s 8d per 1000 in the 16th century, so the poor workers made their own from fishbones, in Devon, and thorns, in the Midlands. The pinhead was made separately and fixed on to the pin until 1824 when the solid headed type was invented........" Hopewell quotes Palliser, Wight, Earnshaw, Whiting et al in his bibliography. Quote from A Dictionary of Lace by Pat Ernshaw: "A necessary part of the making of bobbin lace. In the sixteenth century pins were very expensive.... and the country folk are said to have used fish bones or splintered chicken bones as substitute." Gertrude Whiting has a whole chapter on "The Humble Pin" in her book Old-Time Tools and Toys of Needlework: "The original pin may have been split from the shaft of a bird's feather, for the root word - pinna from the Latin - means feather. A thorn in Latin is spina. Early pins were of thorns, spikes or fish bones (page 135).....We are told that the term bone-lace comes more probably from fish-bone pins, trimmed to regular lengths, than from sheep's trotters used as bobbins; for a quantity of trotters on a pillow might prove very clumsy and heavy. The Devonshire lace-makers, living as they do along the coast, and descending mostly from poor fisher familities declare that they could not in those days afford the necessary number of the newyly introduced wire pins, but that there were fish bones a-plenty. An elderly Honiton worker told Mrs. Palliser that she recalled using bone pins in her youth, but that they had been given up on account of their costliness - showing how wire pins had gradually become cheaper. One wonders, however, what fish bone of earlier days could have penetrated the necessary heavy lace prickings and firmly stuffed pillows without snapping in two." Quote from Old Handmade Lace by Mrs. F. Nevill Jackson (first published 1861) "Pin - an instrument used for the temporary attachment of one piece of material to another. Sharpened bones were used in bobbin lace-making before the 16th century, when the modern pin was invented; hence the term Bone Lace". And from The Dictionary of Needlework by Caulfeild & Saward - "Bone Point - The first pillow laces made in England in the 16th century were called Bone, by reason of the bobbins being formed from the bones of animals, and sometimes the pins made of fish bones. The word Point is, however, an incorrect term to use for Pillow Laces". and "Pin - An appliance used for the temporary attachmetn of one piece of material to another, before it is basted. The original pinwas a thorn. Sharpened fish and other bones were also in use before the modern metal pin was manufactured. The date of the latter in England is doubful, possibly the 13th century. Bristol is credited with being the seat of the manufacture. Malvary in Ottawa, where we had a hot day and my team came 3rd in a lawn bowls tournament - yippee! - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
