Origins of clothes and writings for tailors

This is from the the eighth to the thirteenth parts of the handbook, looking at what, today, would be seen to be theological and political themes. WDF was a quaker and his beliefs came across in his writing. Again, I am not including everything from each section as many are reviews and quotes from books that are still available to be read elsewhere on the world wide web by following the links at the end of this page.

VIII – What clothes are made from

When I was a boy the thought of Solomon in all his glory being inferior in his clothing to the lilies of the field somewhat oppressed me, and when in after years I thought upon the origin of the clothing we wear and read in “Sartor Resartus” that they came from the dead fleeces of sheep, the bark of vegetables, the entrails of worms, the hides of oxen and seals, and the felt of furred beasts, I realised its truth. To trace the the river back to its source is always interesting, and to follow the same plan with the garments we wear will prove quite as attractive.

Strange, as it may appear, all the kingdoms of nature have been laid under the tribute. The animal kingdom gives us cloth, leather and fur, the vegetable kingdom gives us linen, cotton, buttons, and sewing materials, and the mineral kingdom supplies us with buttons and trimmings, by the aid of which we adorn our clothing and make them beautiful.

Students of the world’s history tell us that the mineral kingdom is the oldest of these, and it is interesting to meditate sometimes on the wonderful story associated with a button. Try to think of the aeons of time during which the iron, brass, or gold was in formation, picture to yourself the changes through which it has passed from ore to the time it was sewn to the card ready for sale, and then let your imagination have rein to follow it through its future existence, when it is used for some practical purpose, and at the same time adorns the garment to which it is attached and the individual who wears it, and long ere you have done the button will have taught you a lesson full of interest, instruction, and inspiration.

Pictures of imagination

The same plan may be followed with the cotton linings, and as you think of the cotton plantations and the negroes who work there, and how at one time the horrors of slavery were part of the necessary machinery for the production of cotton, and as you recall the story of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” visions of untold pathos and humour will appear to you, and the site of that little bit of cotton will prove little short of marvellous. You will, of course, rejoice that no longer does the cotton plant thrive ‘neath the labour of the slave, but in the glorious atmosphere of freedom, where a man is looked upon as a fellow creature be he white or black.

And then you will, of course, transport yourself to the Australian sheep farms, and there, beneath the sunny skies and the balmy air of the southern clime, you will see the lambs frisking about, the sheep being shorn, the wool being packed, the bales being shipped, and you will follow it across the deep blue seas until it reaches out shores and it is transmitted to the weaver, the dyer, and the finisher, and eventually passes into your hands to be modelled into a beautiful coat to supply the wants of yourself or your comrades – oh, I tell you, the romance of the history of the clothes we wear is full of interest, and later on I shall have more to say about this.

Why we wear clothes

Now, I can readily imagine your asking the same question that I did about the lilies and Solomon. Why should we have to wear the cast-off covering of some other animal or weave some grass and fashion some metal into a covering for our bodies? In other words, why was it man was not provided with a covering the same as the rest of the animal kingdom? Well, there are many reasons forthcoming, all of which proclaim the wisdom of our Great Creator in making us without clothing. First of all we are able to adapt our clothing to the climate we may happen to be in, and you know there is a very great difference between the temperature of ” Greenland’s Icy Mountains and India’s Coral Strand,” and you can readily understand how uncomfortable we should be if we had always to wear the same clothing, and in these days of quick travelling it does not take long to go from one place to another.

In the second place, we are able to dress ourselves in a way that is suitable for our occupation; sometimes we delight in tucking up our shirt sleeves and indulge in laborious occupation, but there are other times when longer garments are more appropriate for us. In the third place, it enables us to be very much cleaner than we could otherwise be, and that promotes health and our happiness – the value of a change of clothing can only be realised after some such experience as has fallen to the lot of our Transvaal soldiers, and, in the fourth place, clothes give us social distinctions, and men generally have realised the necessity for united action, and that involves a leader, and in order that he should be recognised a different style of dress is necessary.

Thus we have provided for us a means of decency and warmth, a source of ornamentation and cleanliness, and as we tailors realise that we are co-workers together with God in providing coverings for his creatures which will enable them to adapt themselves to their climate, their work, their comfort, and their social position, and to do this we have every kingdom of nature at our disposal, thus providing us with an infinite variety of materials to work with.

Carlyle writes on the subject:-

“The first purpose of clothes was not decency or warmth, but decoration . . . Increased security and pleasurable heat soon followed . . . Shame (modesty), too, arose mysteriously under clothes . . . Clothes have us individuality, distinctions, social polity; clothes have made men of us,” and so on, but you must try to read “Sartorial Restartus” for yourself, especially those chapters entitled, ” The World in Clothes” and “The World Out of Clothes,” and by the time you have understood them you will not need any further articles from my pen.

 

IX – Great Authors who have written for Tailors.

In the first half of the last century a great movement was made in the interests of the working man, seeds of Socialism of the purest type were sown, and demands were made under the title of “The People’s Charter,”which the latter half of the century saw saw fit in a large measure to grant, at any rate, as far as their spirit was concerned. Amongst the workers who stood by the working-men and fought their battles in a spirit that won where they would have otherwise failed, the name of Charles Kingsley will ever stand fourth enshrined in a halo of glory, for he brought ability and enthusiasm and Christian love to bear upon his efforts, so that today we respect the fruits of his labours under conditions that but for him and his co-workers could not have existed.

He studied the tailoring problem, and described it as only an eyewitness and a scholar could have done. He fearlessly showed forth it’s black spots​, and he indicated its points of weakness. He wrote Alton Locke as an effort to relieve their burdens, and in a large measure he succeeded, and so we revere the memory of this great and good man, who, though he was a clergyman of the Church of England still found time to labour for those who were being killed in foul and damp workshops, and huddled together worse than the beasts of the field. We are proud of the fact that Canon Kingsley took such an interest in our craft, and your education will not be complete until you have read and re-read “Alton Locke.” Then we are not likely to forget that one of the greatest thinkers​ of the century made his name and his fame by a book about clothes and tailors. It was Thomas Carlyle’s maiden effort when he wrote “Sartor Resartus,”  a title which means “The Tailor retailored” or it may be rendered, “The Patcher repatched.” This book, written in such a rugged style, is full of brilliant thought. It contains a rendering of truth which has endeared it to thinkers and students of all lands, and it shows how very much more there is in the philosophy of clothes than appears on the surface. When you have read “Alton Locke” read “Sartor Resartus.” You will find it a bit difficult, but it is worth mastering, and it will discipline your mind and make you think in a way that will prove beneficial to you in after life. Yes, we are proud of our association with the Sage of Chelsea.

The Prophet of Condition had also given us much of his beautiful diction. John Ruskin not only advised us to read Carlyle, but he provided us with thoughts that instruct and inspire, and I cannot understand how any tailor can read Ruskin’s “Lectures and Essays” without desiring to be both a better tailor and a better man. He has pointed us in the direction of knowledge, be has shown is what we should not otherwise have observed, and we are grateful to him for his help. Ruskin, like Kingsley, was a social reformer, and it may be that some of you for whom I write will be the happier and the better for his teaching.

Then we must not forget Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote the beautiful poem, “Evening,” in which he says :-

Day hath put on his jacket, and around
His burning bosom buttoned it with stars.
Here will I lay me on the velvet grass,
That is like padding to earth’s meagre ribs,
And hold communion with the things about me.
Ah me! how lovely is the golden braid
That binds the skirt of night’s descending robe!
The thin leaves, quivering on their silken threads,
Do make a music like to rustling satin,
As the light breezes smooth their downy nap.

Ha! what is this that rises to my touch,
So like a cushion? Can it be a cabbage?
It is, it is that deeply injured flower,
Which boys do flout us with; ­but yet I love thee,
Thou giant rose, wrapped in a green surtout.
Doubtless in Eden thou didst blush as bright
As these, thy puny brethren; and thy breath
Sweetened the fragrance of her spicy air;
But now thou seemest like a bankrupt beau,
Stripped of his gaudy hues and essences,
And growing portly in his sober garments.

Is that a swan that rides upon the water?
Oh no, it is that other gentle bird,
Which is the patron of our noble calling.
I well remember, in my early years,
When these young hands first closed upon a goose;
I have a scar upon my thimble finger,
Which chronicles the hour of young ambition.
My father was a tailor, and his father,
And my sire’s grandsire, all of them were tailors;
They had an ancient goose,- it was an heirloom
From some remoter tailor of our race.
It happened I did see it on a time
When none was near, and I did deal with it,
And it did burn me,- O, most fearfully!

It is a joy to straighten out one’s limbs,
And leap elastic from the level counter,
Leaving the petty grievances of earth,
The breaking thread, the din of clashing shears,
And all the needles that do wound the spirit,
For such a pensive hour of soothing silence.
Kind Nature, shuffling in her loose undress,
Lays bare her shady bosom; I can feel
With all around me; ­I can hail the flowers
That sprig earth’s mantle,- ­and yon quiet bird,
That rides the stream, is to me as a brother.
The vulgar know not all the hidden pockets,
Where Nature stows away her loveliness.
But this unnatural posture of the legs
Cramps my extended calves, and I must go
Where I can coil them in their wonted fashion.

The writings of Charles Lamb contain a fascinating essay on “The Melancholy of Tailors.” It is certainly worth reading, for though it does not flatter the members of our craft, yet it reveals many interesting traits of character, some of which may be true. In former articles I have referred you to the writings of Charles Dickens, so we must not omit this famous author from our list, for I am sure you will read him with interest, even though he only occasionally deals with clothes or tailors.

Then we have Sir Walter Besant, whose story of “All Sorts and Conditions of Men” introduces us to present day people, and which deals with the sister trade, dressmaking. The outcome of this book was the People’s Palace in the Whitechapel Road, a place where many tailors and dressmakers have been taught more of their business, and sent forth into the battle of life better equipped than they otherwise would be.

These names might be added to by many others, but we prefer to have a select lost of great authors rather than a multitude of second-raters, and by the time you have read what these have written I shall be able to direct your minds​ to other channels.

We must also mention “The Right of Way,” by Gilbert Parker, and “Evan Harrington,” by George Meredith, both of which take a tailor as the hero of their book.

 

(X) – Sartor Resartus (Printers error in the book here. There is no heading marked “X” but this seems to be part ten.) 

This book seems to have been a favourite of WDF. 

Probably no work in our literature has appealed more closely to the Instincts of English tailors than that great classic of the Sage of Chelsea which is known by the above somewhat mystical title

“Sartor resartus,” the name of the book, is something of a puzzle alike to the linguist and to the student, who tries to read an inner meaning into the curious or alliterative combination of words which authors are perhaps too fond of adopting when giving a name to the offspring of their brain and pen. “The philosophy of clothes” is generally considered to be the best interpretation of the title of Carlyle’s great essay on Tailoring. The tailor re-clothed, or the tailor re-vindicated is perhaps the nearest approach to the literal meaning of the title of the book.

But whatever the idea of the writer of the work under notice may have been, it has become a generally acknowledged fact that the purpose of the book is to emphasise the importance of dress  and consequently; to elevate the maker of clothes, the tailor, to a far higher altitude than had previously been considered his place in what may be called the ascending plane of usefulness. Tailors are, perhaps, over fond of thinking this the supreme object and purpose of “Sartor Resartus.” They are, not unnaturally, apt to overlook the undercurrent of satire that runs through the various chapters. They sometimes skip with self-satisfied complacency the comparisons of the tailored man, the clothes-screen, with the so-called lower animals who have been clothed and ornamented, with and elegance and grace , with utility and comfort-giving perfection by the first and grandest tailor of the Universe, Nature. They forget that no system, no material, can give the beauty, the symmetrical gracefulness, the fit, the adaptability to movement, the weather-resisting qualities of the garments which Nature has provided for the bird, the beast, the fish, and the reptile. They overlook the important fact that primitive man, even as represented by his later prototype in the Central African forests to-day, or, as handed down in the illustrations of Grecian statuary, has, from the artistic point of view at least some points of superiority over the Piccadilly masher or the American dude.

All this, there can be no doubt, Carlyle had in his mind when writing his famous essay on clothes philosophy. He realised also that the subject of dress had never been adequately treated either in science or literature.  He says:-

“Considering our present advanced state of culture, and how the Torch of Science has now been brandished and borne about, with more or less effect, for five thousand years and upwards; how, in these times especially, not only the Torch still burns, and perhaps more fiercely than ever, but innumerable Rushlights, and Sulphur-matches, kindled thereat, are also glancing in every direction, so that not the smallest cranny or dog-hole in Nature or Art can remain unilluminated,—it might strike the reflective mind with some surprise that hitherto little or nothing of a fundamental character, whether in the way of Philosophy or History, has been written on the subject of Clothes.

How, then, comes it, may the reflective mind repeat, that the grand Tissue of all Tissues, the only real Tissue, should have been quite overlooked by Science,—the vestural Tissue, namely, of woollen or other cloth; which Man’s Soul wears as its outmost wrappage and overall; wherein his whole other Tissues are included and screened, his whole Faculties work, his whole Self lives, moves, and has its being? For if, now and then, some straggling broken-winged thinker has cast an owl’s glance into this obscure region, the most have soared over it altogether heedless; regarding Clothes as a property, not an accident, as quite natural and spontaneous, like the leaves of trees, like the plumage of birds. In all speculations they have tacitly figured man as a Clothed Animal; whereas he is by nature a Naked Animal; and only in certain circumstances, by purpose and device, masks himself in Clothes.”

Having, then, as it were, discovered a vacuum in the world’s literature, Carlyle proceeds to to fill the gap by weaving together a series of speculations attributing the fanciful thoughts and theories of which the book is composed to a mythical personage who philosophises at large under the fantastical name of Professor Teufelsdröckh, which being freely translated from the German probably means “the devil of the coat.”

This Professor roams at will, and, it must be confessed, somewhat disconnectedly over the whole domain of dress; from fig-leaves to aprons and onwards  – and both upwards and downwards – to nthe attire of the man and woman of today; the hangman, the diplomatist, whose duty is supposed to be to lie abroad for the benefit of his country, the common person, and the King all coming under review, and all being appraised according to the distinctive clothing with which the tailor has endowed them.

It is sometimes difficult to determine whether the object of the book is to belittle the artificialities  of dress, and men because of their dependence upon them, or to ennoble the tailor who provides what Nature has withheld.

Thomas Carlyle

 It is however, made evident that from the social point of view, if from no other , tailoring and, consequently, the tailor has a value and importance which stand out in prominence before all things.

One of the most effective passages, one from which a few sentences have been quoted in a previous article, is that in which he describes the influence, the effect, of the mere difference between one kind of apparel and another:-

“You see two individuals,” he writes, “one dressed in fine Red, the other in coarse threadbare Blue: Red says to Blue, ‘Be hanged and anatomized;’ Blue hears with a shudder, and (O wonder of wonders!) marches sorrowfully to the gallows; is there noosed up, vibrates his hour, and the surgeons dissect him, and fit his bones into a skeleton for medical purposes. How is this; or what make ye of your Nothing can act but where it is? Red has no physical hold of Blue, no clutch of him, is nowise in contact with him: neither are those ministering Sheriffs and Lord-Lieutenants and Hangmen and Tipstaves so related to commanding Red, that he can tug them hither and thither; but each stands distinct within his own skin. Nevertheless, as it is spoken, so is it done: the articulated Word sets all hands in Action; and Rope and Improved-drop perform their work.

“Thinking reader, the reason seems to me twofold: First, that Man is a Spirit, and bound by invisible bonds to All Men; secondly, that he wears Clothes, which are the visible emblems of that fact. Has not your Red hanging-individual a horsehair wig, squirrel-skins, and a plush-gown; whereby all mortals know that he is a JUDGE?—Society, which the more I think of it astonishes me the more, is founded upon Cloth.

“Often in my atrabiliar moods, when I read of pompous ceremonials, Frankfort Coronations, Royal Drawing-rooms, Levees, Couchees; and how the ushers and macers and pursuivants are all in waiting; how Duke this is presented by Archduke that, and Colonel A by General B, and innumerable Bishops, Admirals, and miscellaneous Functionaries, are advancing gallantly to the Anointed Presence; and I strive, in my remote privacy, to form a clear picture of that solemnity,—on a sudden, as by some enchanter’s wand, the—shall I speak it?—the Clothes fly off the whole dramatic corps; and Dukes, Grandees, Bishops, Generals, Anointed Presence itself, every mother’s son of them, stand straddling there, not a shirt on them; and I know not whether to laugh or weep.

But the book must be read to be understood, it must be carefully read to be appreciated. As an example of the most vigorous kind of thought and language which English possesses it is, and is likely to remain, a masterpiece. Like all Carlyle’s writings, it is marked by a certain sturdy manliness which makes wholesome reading. It will well repay study, and, as cheap editions are now plentiful, it is brought within reach of all. Our extracts are taken from a shilling edition published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, a book which also contains “Heroes and Hero Worship”, “Chartism” and “Past and Present”. We shall be pleased to supply it to any of our readers who desire a copy, post free for 1s. 2d. (I’m sorry that offer is long since gone – see links at end of this article for online copies available for free!)

XI – Ruskins teachings for Tailors.

The reference you will have already to Ruskin will have prepared your mind for some thoughts worthy of the subject. It is impossible for us to give you a review of his lectures and essays in the same way as we shall hope to do with the novels, such as “Alton Locke” and “All Sorts and Conditions of Men,” we shall rather give you suggestions from the lectures of John Ruskin, so that you may follow them up by studying his books for yourselves. Ruskin always believed that in order for a man to do good work he must be a good man. He was fully convinced that character would tell, even if the person was unconscious of it. A good man would do good work, a and a bad man will be sure to leave some weakness or some trifling detail in the course of the work. This idea is well worked out in the “The Stones of Venice,” and if you read his writings it will teach you to look behind the surface to find causes of defects where they are least suspected. John Ruskin in his lecture delivered in Manchester in 1857, said:-

“I believe true nobleness of dress to be an important means of education, as it certainly is a necessity to any nation which wishes to possess living art, concerned with portraiture of human nature. No good historical painting ever yet existed, or ever can exist, where the dresses of the people of the time are not beautiful: and had it not been for the lovely and fantastic dressing of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, neither French, nor Florentine, nor Venetian art could have risen to anything like the rank it reached.”

There are those who look upon dress as an important means of decoration – indeed, Carlyle says that  “decoration is the first object of dress.” Ruskin on decoration says:-

“Observe then first — the only essential distinction between decorative and other art is being fitted for a fixed place ; and in that place, related, either in subordination or in command, to the effect of other pieces of art. And all the greatest art which the world has produced is thus fitted for a place, and subordinated to a purpose. There is no existing highest-order art but is decorative. The best culpture yet produced has been the decoration of a temple front ; the best painting, the decoration of a room ; Raphael’s best doing is merely the wall coloring of a suite of apartments in the Vatican, and his cartoons were made for tapestries ; Corregio’s best doing is the decoration of two small church cupolas at Parma ; Michael Angelo’s, of a ceiling in the Pope’s private chapel ; Tintoret’s, of a ceiling and side wall belonging to a charitable society at Venice ; while Titian and Veronese threw out their noblest thoughts, not even on the inside, but on the outside of the common brick and plaster walls of Venice.”

There is a very important question which will sure to rise in consequence of that quotation from Ruskin, and that is: What is art? and as Ruskin has given such an excellent definition in his lectures at Manchester, we cannot do better than quote it:-

“If you glance over the map of Europe, you will find that where the manufactures are strongest, there art also is strongest. And yet I always felt that there was an immense difficulty to be encountered by the students who were in these centres of modern movement. They had to avoid the notion that art and manufacture were in any respect one. Art may be healthily associated with manufacture, and probably in future will always be so; but the student must be strenuously warned against supposing that they can ever be one and the same thing, that art can ever be followed on the principles of manufacture. Each must be followed separately; the one must influence the other, but each must be kept distinctly separate from the other.
It would be well if all students would keep clearly in their mind the real distinction between those words which we use so often, “Manufacture,” “Art,” and “Fine Art.” “MANUFACTURE” is, according to the etymology and right use of the word, “the making of anything by hands,”—directly or indirectly, with or without the help of instruments or machines. Anything proceeding from the hand of man is manufacture; but it must have proceeded from his hand only, acting mechanically, and uninfluenced at the moment by direct intelligence.
Then, secondly, ART is the operation of the hand and the intelligence of man together; there is an art of making machinery; there is an art of building ships; an art of making carriages; and so on. All these, properly called Arts, but not Fine Arts, are pursuits in which the hand of man and his head go together, working at the same instant.
Then FINE ART is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.
Recollect this triple group; it will help you to solve many difficult problems. And remember that though the hand must be at the bottom of everything, it must also go to the top of everything; for Fine Art must be produced by the hand of man in a much greater and clearer sense than manufacture is. Fine Art must always be produced by the subtlest of all machines, which is the human hand. No machine yet contrived, or hereafter contrivable, will ever equal the fine machinery of the human fingers. Thoroughly perfect art is that which proceeds from the heart, which involves all the noble emotions;—associates with these the head, yet as inferior to the heart; and the hand, yet as inferior to the heart and head; and thus brings out the whole man.
Hence it follows that since Manufacture is simply the operation of the hand of man in producing that which is useful to him, it essentially separates itself from the emotions; when emotions interfere with machinery they spoil it: machinery must go evenly, without emotion. But the Fine Arts cannot go evenly; they always must have emotion ruling their mechanism, and until the pupil begins to feel, and until all he does associates itself with the current of his feeling, he is not an artist.”

Following up on the idea, it shows the scope there is in the tailoring trade. Ruskin says: “If jest in you let the jest be jested.” Yiou can bring out the most fantastic design if ingenuity is yours, you may give your genius full scope, and design garments never before dreamt of-

“… but whatever you do, see that your work is easily and happily done or it will never make anyone else happy, and while you throw your whole heart into your work, and give rein to all your impulse, see that those impulses are headed and centered by one noble impulse and let that be LOVE, Triple love, for the art which you practice, the creation in which you move and the creatures to whom you minister.
First, love for the art which you practice. Be assured that if ever any other motive becomes your leading idea, you have a small chance of success as an artist. You may be desirous of making money, acquiring fame or achieving position – all good and desirable – but these must never be the chief aim of your extra exertion, that must always be your love for your art, and although the other motives are good they must not be the one paramount idea. So that, if it ever comes to a question, whether you will make five shillings or even a pound more by a garment, and spoil it, or do it as you know it ought to be done, and you choose to spoil it, then I repeat, you stand no chance of success as an artist. Love your art, and the creation in which you hove, and you will revel in sunshine and admire the beauty of the earth, the sky, and the sea, and see something to admire and worship in everything. Love for the creatures to whom you minister, and as fine art comes fro the heart we must be able to realise and sympathise with all that is beautiful and noble, and you will find that there is more true beauty in the widow’s face, who sits in the free sittings at church, than in the beautifully dressed girl sitting in the front row. It is not the soldier that is the noblest specimen of God’s creatures, but the poor invalid made perfect through suffering, for patience is more beautiful than a pretty face and endurance is grander than strength.”

We advise you all to read Ruskin’s works. They can be seen at public libraries, but, I am sorry to say they cannot as yet be procured at popular prices. Perhaps in years to come these works will be spread broadcast in the same way that we can now get much of the best literature of the world. (and WDF would, no doubt, be pleased to see that Ruskins works are readily available freely on the web – see links at end of the article)

 

XII – Review of “All Sorts and Conditions of Men,” by Sir Walter Besant.

This book was written to the memory of James Rice about the year 1882, and since that time has enjoyed a steady and continuous sale. The author states in his preface that he does not claim originality for any of the ideas therein contained, he simply observed what was needed, and wrote them down in the form of a novel.

After many wanderings in Stepney, Whitechapel, Poplar, Bow, and other parts of East London, in which he saw much of suffering and the wants of life, Sir Walter Besant came to the conclusion that what was lacking most was the power of helping one another, the want of socialism and sympathy, therefore he wrote this book, hoping that some good might result and that someone would come forward and do what was most needed for these poor souls. It is universally believed that the People’s Palace was the outcome of this novel.

WDF then outlines the plot of the book over the next five pages, however, the full text of the boom can be found by following the link at the end of this article.

From the back cover of the 1923 edition of the book: “Determined to use her inherited wealth benevolently, Angela Messenger, an idealistic Cambridge graduate, changes her name and takes lodgings in a Stepney boarding-house, seeking to understand the East End and its people. The young and aristocratic Harry Le Breton also haunts the area, discovering his origins and a new sense of kinship.”

 

XIII – Review of “Alton Locke,” Tailor and Poet. By the Rev. Charles Kingsley.

We have endeavoured in this review to give some idea of this famous book. We have to confess, however, that we are far from satisfied with it, for as every page describes some dramatic incident or contains some philosophic reasoning, it is next to impossible to do justice to it in such a condensed treatment. Still it may awaken your interest in the book, and when you have opportunity you must read it for yourself. It is published at sixpence, and may be ordered through any bookseller, or we will forward it for eightpence post free. (WDF then reviews the book over the next 14 pages – good news – you can get the whole book for free now by following the link at the bottom of the article)

Charles Kingsley

 

Taken from “The Tailor’s Handbook of Useful Information” by W.D.F. Vincent c1905

The following links – correct at the time of publication – give further reading about subjects referred to above

Thomas Carlyle

Sartor Resartus

Heroes and Hero Worship

Chartism

Past and Present

John Ruskin

A Joy Forever

on Decorative Art

The Two Paths

Sir Walter Besant

All Sorts and Conditions of Men

The Peoples Palace – A modern article from the Whitechapel Society

Charles Kingsley

Alton Locke

 

The Tailor’s Handbook of Useful Information