OLD ITALIAN LACE. Volume I. Originally published in 1913. How can we discover the first origin of an art so modest as to be content to remain almost exclusively feminine and anonymous, flourishing in the silence of the cloister and the quiet of the fireside The meek nun stitching at an altar-cloth, or the young mother happy in the preparation of babyclothes and trimming the fine Iinen with the new form of embroidery, were all unconsciously building up the foundation of the History of Lace, and did not think of dating their handiwork. But since there are people who believe the art of lacemaking to be co-eval with that of embroidery, while others affirm that it is of Italian invention and relatively modern, it may be worth while to seek the truth from two impartial sources among documents – inventories, trousseaux lists or deeds of distinguished families apportioning property – and old pictures. Many of the earliest books on weaving, textiles and needlework, particularly those datin
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