Neües Danβerlein Büechel: Winter Und Sommer Gaertlein

Pocket-sized Textile Pattern Book with title page, 13 pages of letterpressed text, printed on recto and verso, and 33 plates with small textile patterns. This type of pattern book, dated 1691, is of an unusually small format, featuring intricately decorated titles and text, rarely present in German pattern books for women of the 17th century. The author, who signs the book only with her initials at the end of the preface, carefully explains the difference between “Dantzen” (dance) and “Däntzerl-Arbeit” (entertainment-work), under which she views embroidery. The book is mostly composed of rather simple, geometric patterns, some including flowers, branches and scrolls, all for cross-stitching. The patterns in this book are represented over a grid, which conveniently resembles the warp and weft of the woven fabric onto which the pattern would be applied, thus assisting the reader in the needlework process. The last plate contains a fine etching where a group of three women, all engaged in needlework, and a man, sitting around a table.

By the end of the 15th century, printed books had become a popular means for the dissemination of news and knowledge in a wide variety of subjects. By the 16th century, printed textile patternbooks were on high demand in middle- and upper-class households, especially as the art of textile decoration became part of the everyday lives of women, who were expected to engage in this kind of “entertainment-work” during their free time, as part of their domestic role in the household. These books would be used as guides for women to conduct their needlework, sometimes even used as the ground on which textiles were produced, particularly in the case of lace.