Pattern books: a textile and paper affair

Abstract

This dissertation is an in-depth documentation of James Napier’s 1858 dye manual currently located at the Special Collections at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. This project discusses the importance of pattern books as research resources and how interventive conservation may compromise the integrity of the textile patterns for future research. It argues that intervention should be kept to a minimal and only used when extremely necessary in order to preserve the integrity of the textile patterns for future research. This project uses visual analysis and archival research to investigate the textile patterns present in Napier’s volume. It concludes that visual analysis is not enough for the complete investigation of these information-rich objects, and also concludes that technical analysis will be required for an in-depth study of this volume.