Evening star., 1898-11-05
OLD PRINTS IN GREAT DEMAND.
They Are Used for Decorating Lamp
Shades. shopping BAGS, ssc.
From the New York Sun

Shades. shopping BaRs, &C.
From the New York Sun
Old prints show out in rev and popular
guise this season. and have developed u
value apart from their soft tones and apt
Illustration. Old-time Paris and London
journals with frontispieces ana fashion
plates worth having are bought up eagerly
by the importers agents, especially those
issues that were current as long ago as
1893 and there eabouts. The prints are cut
cut and let in on silk and satin surfaces 10
be used for decorative fancy work or else
are framed in burnt wood or stucco work
frames. and hung singly or In medallion
groups of three and five. for walls and cab
il ct adornment Screens are made of them.
each panel composed OF Illustrations of a
certain era, and one two old prints are
certain to be a main feature of the latest
type of lamp shade. Amateur workers who
have def fingers and the wit and exactness
TO carry out their own designs make use OF
the prints in such novel ways as please
| them best. but the majority get together
, the requisite number of prints and carry
them to some shade or screen maker who
can Introduce them In the right position
and set them of with appropriate surround
iags.
New York shopkeepers who are suspected
of having ar accumulation OF oid-time
these days by onset of old-print seck-rs
and chests and stowaway trunks are ram
sacked for the especial sporting pictures or
gay-tinted frontispiece that some member
OF the family may remember to have seen
| during former search of effects. The
early numbers of the first American fash
ion sheets and illustrated quarterlies and
monthlies are also being unearthed from
long packed boxes. and their most available
| treasures made use of. but stray fragments
Of La Belle Assemblee, the Dublin Monthly
Museum and Ackerman's Repository. If
possessed OF a print or two, go like hot
cakes, while the purchasers eagerly pick
| out the pages they want and throw the res,
away. Old brocades and rare pieces of tap
estry figured ccnspicuously In fete day gifts
last season, and this year the prints have
favor For work boxes, the stiff silk pam
els of framed opera bags and shopping
bags, prints that are uncolored or of an ALL
over neutral tint are Used. framed In with
minute spangled or corded guimpe. or fine
outlining OF embroidery that finishes the
edge of the cloth or silk where II is cut
away, but does not attract too much notice
from the print itself. These prints are the
likenesses of noted bellies and beauties. gem
orally in court dress. with deliberately coiff-
ed hair and bejeweled arms and fingers:
a mantle tippet or fan gives grace and dis
tinctiveness; or maybe. if il is a full length
likeness, the grand DANES delicately san
daled foot peeps out from skirts limp or
skinny befiounced, according 10 the
vogue of the time.
A lamp shade of nasturtum yellow silk
" hich is six sided has two such old prints
let In on oppC site panels and framed about
With darker tinting. Fringe a finger deep
OF twisted gold thread finishes the edge.
Another lamp shade of the same shape has
old prints o. 1913 representing a trio of
London women in street dress. The ground
work of the lamp shade is delicate ivory.
and there is an eyeletting of dark blue
SpanCles framing the print. To mod,rn-day
eyes these IA shionable DANES of a century
look nl-Cl a thouRh they hah anil rod
out in dressing sacQues, put on over paja-
mas. but their hair is SO elaborate and their
hats and para soils so bedizened as to han
iSh the thought. Another old print OF an
cient date. meant for mounting on a fire
sCreen. shows a group in evening dress.
with scarfs round about their bare shoul-
ders. medallions hanging from gtrdles that
define the very short waist, and head
dresses that suggest beruftled nightcaps
with a nosegay on the crown and another
tucked in under the face frill. All of these
prints have been colored by hand, in pretty
blues. lavenoers and greens, and the bright.
very low-quartered and extremely pointed
slippers show out under gowns that trail
in front and behind. and have to be held up
to admit of the wearer's movements.
Spirited old prints representing fish rmen.
oarsmen. chariot drivers. hunters and wine
hjbbers are Used for decorating mems ac-
cessories. By far the oddest prints are
those depicting fat old friars and homely
peasants engaged in some religious cbserv-
ance and those showing the women of con-
ventional life watering the primmest of
prim green ger6niums, or maybe sitting idle
in stiff-stilted attitude. with a poll parrot
near by or a very woodeny looking, night
capped baby in cradle beside their chair
The fashion Journals OF those times seem
to have neglected no phase of life. and the
old-print enthusiasts have a wide field TO
choose from. When making their fancy
gifts and belongings they can have some
thing to suit the domestic, the athletic. the
aesthetic an5 the sentImentally inclined.
Certain of these old book frontispieces
new destined for practical uses, have
brought prices quite out of proportion TO
their size and original value, as is usual
with anything that comes to be fad
Those VINO have these very old periodicals
in their possession can readily realize on
them, for the proprietors of the gift shops
and knickkrack and embroidery stores
stand ready to take them off their hands
The old-time portrait silhouette is being put
to service in the same way. Some OF these
bought from old house collections sell for
as much as s. and Sc They are used N sill
Yer gray surfaces and outlined with black
and gold guimpe interspersed with span
giles. By the way, parti-colored spaugles
In exaggerated form, as large n dime or
1-cent piece and of expensive quality, are
embroidered couch cushions. They glitter
and look handsome. but do away entirely
with the Idea of soothing and comfort that
istence.
Dressing for Luncheon Parties.