Book chemise

[English?], 18th - late 19th century[?]. Very good; some sunning around the spine; small wear spots.. A green moire silk book "chemise" with an elaborate border edging of metallic and cotton thread integrated in a "wave" pattern and a color silk thread needlework decoration ("lozenge" shaped, without outline) applied to the front cover. It meas. appx. 175 x 115 mm.

A handsome and unusual artifact. Rare. The term "chemise" is broadly applied to include those book coverings that were not created for, and secured to, an individual book but rather intended for interchangeable use on a variety of printed books, notebooks, or personal diaries. Internally the book would have been secured by the extended silk moire "pockets" sewn to the chemise covers into which a book cover could be slid - front and rear. The size, and single decorative cover, suggest an item that would have been personal to the owner - most likely a woman - and frequently carried, closed (cover facing out) thereby displaying the decorative stitching. A summation of source information with references is Vanessa Robb's article available at: https://arhpee.typepad.com/Chemise bindings.pdf. Apparently, no other examples of this type of cover have been indexed in public collections (e.g., there is nothing akin to it in the Lefèvre catalog Livres en broderie .... - restricted to only French examples - or in Davenport's study). The color needlework decoration is most likely 17th century Italian. The probability is that the needlework was a piece of salvage that survived into the 19th century and then was utilized as an applied decorative "plaque". Evidence for this is shown in the overlap of the wave pattern edging along all four edges of the front cover that appears to secure the needlework in place. The matrix for the needlework also shows through at one small spot and sits atop the green silk backing. The metallic and cotton thread edging is problematical to date. There is delicate couching securing it to the green silk backing. It could be as late as 1900 or, much earlier. If later, the overall design suits an "Arts & Crafts" motif (given the indulgent use of earlier, decorative, needlework) that this chemise exhibits. A most interesting survival.