The Pocket A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660-1900

Illustrated book about the history of tie-on pockets in Great Britain. Detachable pockets worn under the skirt were a commonplace accessory of dress of women throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Study and identification of nearly 390 surviving pockets, of fragile textiles, in museums and private collections in the United Kingdom is combined with evidence from sources like letters, diaries, criminal trials, inventories, novels, advertisements, paintings and satirical prints. This research on practices and materiality reveals pockets as socially and culturally embedded artefacts, makers and carriers of meaning and memory.