The Cambridge History of Western Textiles, Volumes I and II (review)

The new Cambridge History of Western Textiles is a lavish and expensive set of two volumes, nearly 1,200 pages long. It contains forty-six essays on topics ranging from prehistorical textiles to twentieth-century synthetic fibers. Its chronological span is as impressive as its thematic variety, covering not only different fibers (wool, silk, linen, cotton, and manmade materials), but also a diverse range of fabrics and commodities (hosiery, lace, tapestries and carpets, furnishing, and dress). The editor of these two volumes must be congratulated for the titanic scale of such an endeavor. More than three hundred illustrations (forty of which are in color) show Cambridge University Press's publishing standards at their best.

The volumes are divided into five parts that survey the ancient world to A.D. 1000 (178 pages), the medieval period (215 pages), the early modern period (322 pages), the nineteenth century (214 pages), and the twentieth century (182 pages). This is a classic periodization that reinforces traditional historical narratives within textile history that are based on discontinuities, such as the protoindustrial expansion of textile production after 1500, the industrial revolution, and the invention of synthetic fibers. The unexpected analysis of textiles in prehistorical, Greek and Roman, and early medieval times is surely a welcome addition. Shorter essays—although based on rather technical archaeological evidence—provide some unique insights on ecological and technological issues. The reader thus discovers that Neolithic sheep did not have woolly fleeces and that the Greeks and Romans did not know of the use of cards for wool.

The volumes are particularly strong for the medieval and early modern periods. Although all textiles and clothing were made with a limited number of fibers (silk, hemp and flax, wool and cotton), the complexity of fibers' mixes, of spinning, weaving, and finishing techniques, and the variety of colors made the market extremely segmented and the diversity of fabrics available to consumers nearly limitless. Such richness comes out fully in essays that deal with demand, in particular those essays on medieval textiles, on cotton, lace, early modern tapestries, and on furnishing. Other essays concentrate instead on supply and provide clear analyses on technological and organizational changes, the role of international markets, and the relationship between agriculture and textile manufacturing.

While in the medieval and early modern parts of this work, particular attention is dedicated to woolen and worsted textiles, cotton is the center of attention in the first part of volume two dedicated to the nineteenth century. A series of particularly thorough essays propose a well-rehearsed narrative of economic development starting with cotton and the industrial revolution, passing through wool, silk, and linen to arrive to more dress-related topics on hosiery, machine-made lace, textile design and furnishing and dress. The twentieth century (mainly post-1918 period) is portrayed as much more eventful than its predecessor. An essay by the late Donald Coleman provides unique insights into the endless opportunities of manmade fibers, which are further examined in another essay covering the post–World War II period. Essays on cotton, wool, and hosiery show how the threat of artificial fibers was not the only change upsetting European textile production: new competition from the Middle and Far East was the main cause for the decline of established productive areas and for the conversion of most European textile producers to small niche markets.

This brief outline should give the flavor of such a vast and complicated work. It should also be underlined that, similar to most collections of essays, not all contributions are of the same qualitative level. Readers will not consider this to be a major problem as it is unlikely that these volumes will be read cover to cover. The volumes provide instead a fairly compact overview of scholarship on the history of textiles and an easy way to approach specific issues within this broad field. Each chapter provides a short but useful bibliography and the...