Samplers & Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850
Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (November 7, 1991-February 2, 1992), this book documents a cross-section of samplermakers in America while suggesting how the history of samplers reflects the education of young women in this country. The samplers shown here, which include both Quaker and Shaker examples, are organized by state within each century, and the author successfully accomplishes her goal of facilitating their identification and classification. Often, books on samplers provide only a description of the piece. But, like Betty Ring's Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1830 (Rhode Island Historical Soc., 1983), this work relies on exhaustive research in an effort to identify the schoolmistress, school locations, historical influences, patterns, and verse of the various samplers. Edmonds's work complements Ring's, an out-of-print classic and a collectible in its own right. For material culture and decorative arts collections in public and academic libraries.- Judith Yankielun Lind, Roseland Free P.L., N.J.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.