Mrs. Willett Cornwell's Columbian Sewing Book. Illustrated and Self-Instructing for Schools and Families

Revised edition; 11 1/2 x 8 3/4; pp. [4], 7-24, [2]; light-blue wraps, printed and decorated in brown; illustrated with frontis plate and numerous engravings; a bit of spotting and fading to margins of wraps; offset from another publication being tipped-in to title page; overall in very good condition.

Also included is a 1896 copy of Cornwell's booklet Facts and Figures, Concerning Cornwell's Self Fitting Ladies' Taylor System (pp. [14]) and a copy of Cornwell's Scientific Method of Matching Plaids and Stripes and Cutting Seamless Waists (pp. [2]).

Elmira Willett-Cornwell was an author, educator, and proprietor of Cornwell's Columbian Institute of Cutting, Designing, Sewing and Dressmaking. In September of 1891, the Illinois Woman's Exposition Board would propose that a copy of every book written by a woman of Illinois would be collected and displayed at the 1893 Columbian Fair, to show the intellectual development of the women of the state. A copy of the current one would make the list and would be exhibited at the Exposition. It contained lengthy chapters and exhaustive information on every aspect of sewing, including hemming, piping, patching, and so on, as well as the history of thread, of needles, of thimbles, etc.