Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation varies widely and was kept as printed; most other inconsistencies were kept as printed. Inconsistencies in spelling retained, along with the few corrections made, are listed at the end of this text.
Corrections are marked like this with a pop-up to show the original text. Except for the frontispiece (Pl. 1), the plates have been moved from their original mid-paragraph placement to between paragraphs.
Figure numbers in the body of the text are links to the plate containing them. Clicking on each plate will take you to a larger image.
DRESS
AS A FINE ART.
WITH SUGGESTIONS ON CHILDREN'S DRESS.
By MRS. MERRIFIELD.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION ON
Head Dress.
By PROF. FAIRHOLT.
BOSTON:
JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR, AND WORTHINGTON.
1854.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
JOHN P. JEWETT & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts
PRESS OF GEO. C. RAND,
WOOD CUT AND BOOK PRINTER,
CORNHILL, BOSTON.
STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.
The fact that we derive our styles of dress from thesame source as the English, and that the work of Mrs.Merrifield has been circulated among the forty thousandsubscribers of the “London Art Journal,” might perhaps bedeemed sufficient apology for offering it in its present formto the American public. It has received the unqualifiedapprobation of the best publications in this country;—entirechapters having been copied into the periodicals ofthe day; this added to the above, and also to the highstanding of the author, has induced the publishers to offerit to the great reading public of this country.
The chapter on Head-dresses, which commences the book,is of much interest in itself, and affords an explanation ofmany of the descriptions in the body of the work.
The closing chapter, on Children's Dress, by Mrs. Merrifield, will be deemed of more value by most persons thanthe cost of the entire work.
A few verbal alterations only have been made in theoriginal;—the good sense of every reader will enable himto understand the local allusions, and where they belongto England alone, to make the application.