Needle Lace Annotated Bibliography

Locating information on needlelace, particularly when looking for information on lace prior to 1600, is a hunt and peck process through a variety of sources. Most lace books on the market tend to prioritize on extremely fine needle laces of the 17th century or they lean heavily toward information on bobbin lace. Though the comments in this article do not measure the overall worth of a particular book, they should provide guidelines as to which books I found the most useful during my own studies of needle laces prior to 1600.

Bobbin & Needle Laces, Pat Earnshaw, Robin and Russ Handweavers, 1983

I really liked this. She goes into the differences between the different laces with wonderful close up plates of the pieces. She talks about the ground, the threads and dating the pieces, which again assists us in the determination of whether the technique at reproduction is based on a particular time period. There is an extensive bibliography and a listing of museums that contain lace.

Cutwork Embroidery and How to Do It, OenoneCave, Dover Publications
ISBN 0-486-24267-6

A good book for beginning to learn the technique of Reticella. Although the preparation of the ground cloth is logical, it is questionable as to whether it was done that way prior to 1600. It is based on Ruskin lace, or Amelia Ars lace, done in the late 1800's as a revival of Reticella.

Cutwork Hedebo & Broderie Anglaise, Edited by Jules & Kaethe Kliot, Lacis Publications
ISBN 0-916896-40-4

This book has some of the clearest examples for creating the buttonhole stitch, the buttonhole stitch with whipped return, the scalloped edging and the "little pyramids". And excellent book for developing technique. It has excerpts from several earlier books, but those, unfortunately, do not reproduce all the pages. The plates can not be used alone for serious documentation because they are not dated.

A Dictionary of Lace, Pat Earnshaw, Shire Publications LTD
ISBN 0-85263-602-4

A wonderful book for clearing up terminology issues. Beautiful plates and a great recommended reading section. This book contains her definitions for the many terms you find in other lace books. It would be good to read this book before digging into Palliser or to at least have it on hand. This is the only other place I have found information on Hedebo in the lace publications I read.

Hispanic Lace and Lace Making, Francis Lewis May, The Hispanic Society of America, 1939

This book is great for overcoming the shortcomings of the Palliser book toward Spanish lace. Very comprehensive material with 410 plates on lace. It is based in part on an exhibition in 1915 in Madrid of rare linens and lace plus additional information Drawn work and Cut work is dealt with extensively. Does not cover technique.

History of Lace, Mrs. Bury Palliser, Dover Publications
ISBN 0-486-24742-2

This book covers lace history from various inventory listings and digs. Not much on technique but very interesting reading on the use of lace and the subsequent and frequent sumptuary laws. Terminology can be very confusing. A comprehensive, if eclectic, study with a heavy leaning toward bobbin lace.

The Identification of Lace, Pat Earnshaw, Shire Publications LTD, 1980
ISBN 0-85263-701-2

The forerunner to her Bobbin & Needle Laces contains extensive information on identifying different types of lace. Extremely clear details but a little less information on drawn work and cut work than her newest book. Also covers the identification of machine made laces that imitate period laces.

Italian Lace Designs, Elisa Ricci, Dover Publications
ISBN 0-486-27588-4

This Dover book reproduces 243 pictures from the original book by Elisa Ricci. Pictures are dated but it is not stated where they were taken and none of the text of the original book is reproduced. I only considered this useful for inspiration and partial documentation when backed up with more extensive, dated and cited pieces.

Lace: A History, Santina Levy, Costume & Fashion Press
ISBN 090128615X

As the History of Embroidery inspires someone to pick up a needle and start embroidering, this book does the same for lace. The primo of lace books on showing close ups of period lace and providing discussions on not only the technique used but dating and placing where the plates were from. The book is very comprehensive and covers a wide range of time periods. Plates are extremely well done with plenty of good closeups, and they are very numerous. Expensive and hard to find, but anyone interested in lace will love this book.

Needlelace, Pat Earnshaw, Merehurst Limited
ISBN 1-85391-158-5

Extremely clear examples of the buttonhole stitch with single return. Unfortunately, all of the lace instructions are for needle laces that are out of the pre-17th century period of study. However, the instructions and the photographs are clear and beautiful and for technique, it is a wonderful book.

Needle Lace and Needleweaving, A New Look at Traditional Stitches, Jill Nordfors, Arthur Schwartz & Company, 1985
ISBN 1-879504-00-6 (previously 0-933877-00-5)

This is great on technique but is definitely not meant to be a resource for needle lace pre-1600. This is the only book I read that gives clear examples for attaching objects to the lace. There is a complete section with wonderful illustrations on attaching Shi-Sha glass, rocks (jewels), etc. This book looks at needle lace as an art form. Stitch examples are very clear but you would need to reference another work to find out whether they were used in period.

Needle-Made Laces and Net Embroideries, Doris Campbell Preston, Dover Publications
ISBN 0-486-24708-2

This is a reproduction of the original work published in 1938 under the same title. There is a section on Reticella and a section on Lacis but most of the book deals with laces that are out of the 1600 period. This is the only one of my books that covers Carrickmacross, the Irish lace of the early 1800's. The instructions on Reticella are fair with some good stitch illustrations and a good example of the drawn cloth framework.

The Needle-Made Lace of Reticella, Jules & Kaethe Kliot, Lacis Publications
ISBN 0-916896-57-9

This book is also an abridged reproduction of several other earlier works. It has some very clear photographs and briefly discusses the history of Reticella. This book provides very good stitch examples but also provides instructions for using braided tapes for the motifs. I have not found to have been done prior to 1600 and think that it was part of the revival movement of the early 1900's. The patterns are not referenced so care would have to be taken to document them elsewhere and use this book to see the stitches more clearly.

Old Lace, A Handbook for Collectors, Margaret Jourdain, B.T. Batsford LTD London
ISBN 0-8134-5077-0

This was first published in 1908. Margaret Jourdain was one of Mrs. Palliser's editors and provides evidence for much earlier needle laces than Palliser. Again, like Palliser, the majority of the book deals with bobbin lace but the sections on cut work, drawn work and Lacis are worth reading. This edition provides footnotes pointing out some of the differences in dates between Palliser and Jourdain and some additional information on early pattern books.

The Open Canvas, Carolyn Ambuter, Workman Publishing, NY, 1982
ISBN 0-89480-170-8

This is one of the best for technique. Covers Pulled and Drawn Work, Needleweaving, Hemstitching, Filet, Hardanger, Reticello and Hedebo. Close up graphed illustrations of the stitches, discussion of each technique and a close up of the finished work. This is also prepared so that the student can create a sample of the stitches while learning them. Very little on history and covers stitches after the 17th century but the instructions are wonderful and provide plenty of clear, accurate lessons which can then be compared with whatever pre-17th century lace you wish to re-create.

A Pictorial History of Embroidery, Marie Schuette and Sigrid Muller-Christensen,Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publisher
Library of Congress 64-13379

Some examples of both drawn work and cut work. Although a book on embroidery, this book is worth seeing for pure inspiration. It will make you want to pick up a needle and thread when nothing else will. Out of print and hard to find, try to get it on interlibrary loan.

Pizzi Antichi, nei disegni di Cesare Vecellio, Cesare Vecellio, SugarCo Edizioni, Italy, 1980

Another reproduction of a pattern book by Vecellio. Vecellio published many pattern books between 1521-1601. The text is in Italian. The patterns are gorgeous and designed for cutwork or punto di aire.

Pulled Thread Embroidery, Moyra McNeill, Dover Publications, 1971
ISBN 0-486-27857-3

This covers a little bit on the materials used in pulled thread work and provides page after page of close-ups on variations used on the pulled threads. Very little history although some discussion is provided at the very end. This book is great for perfecting decorative techniques on pulled and drawn work, plus instructions on mitering corners and hemstitching for finishing your work.

Renaissance Patterns for Lace, Embroidery and Needlepoint, Federico Vinciolo 1587, Dover Publications
ISBN 0-486-22438-4

This is another reproduction of one of the pattern books put out by Vinciolo. There are patterns for both point couppe and lacis. The patterns can be copied and used as a basis to pin-prick and outline on vellum for using in punto di aire.

Threads of Lace: From Source to Sink, Pat Earnshaw, Gorse Publications, 1989
ISBN 0-9513891-1-4

A very interesting book on the threads that go into lace making. This covers silk, cotton, wool, linen and even synthetics. It then covers the process those threads took to become lace and follows this with some exquisite plates with close-up work and discussions of interest on each of the pieces. Good for developing a further understanding on the process of lace and increase the ability to distinguish various forms of lace.

Some of these books may be out of print. If so, you should be able to obtain them via Out of print book stores, EBay or other outlets. Otherwise, Inter-library loan, though it may take a bit of time to acquire them, will be able to acquire many of these for you.

I'm also certain there are other wonderful books which have been located or been published since this list was created. If so, I'd love to hear from you. Please do feel free to comment this article and leave additional information. I'm sure others will find it very helpful, as will I.