Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress
Merrifield, Mary P. (Mary Philadelphia), 1805？-188Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 3.1- Word count
- 157K words
- Chapters
- 16
Tags
English Originals Fashion Aesthetic EducationLifestyleDesign PhilosophyMoral CultivationPractical GuideTraditional AestheticsSocial ObservationDress AestheticsVictorian EraChildren's DressSummary
Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress by Mary P. MerrifieldAuthor: Merrifield, Mary P. (Mary Philadelphia), 1805?-1889,Language: English, Class: TT: Technology: Handicrafts, Arts and crafts, Release Date: Oct 17, 2010Editor's review
Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress is an essay on dress and children's clothing by the English author Mary P. Merrifield (1805?–1889), made freely available as an English e-text by Project Gutenberg. Merrifield long engaged with art and craft subjects; this essay discusses clothing within the framework of "fine art" and offers specific suggestions on children's dress, making it a primary text on nineteenth-century ideas of dress and everyday aesthetics. Its value lies not in offering a穿衣 guide that can be directly applied today, but in showing how people of the time discussed clothing according to artistic principles, health, and propriety; it is useful for those studying dress history, the history of childhood, and Victorian aesthetic ideas. The text is in English and not long, suitable as a historical fragment or casual reading. Note that this is a public-domain e-text lacking modern editorial notes; some period clothing terms and background require the reader's own verification.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in nineteenth-century dress history and everyday aesthetics
- Enthusiasts studying ideas of children's dress and Victorian life
- English-language readers who want to read short public-domain essays on art and craft
- Those engaged in dress-design history or natural-history-style material collection
Not a good fit for
- Parents seeking practical contemporary guidance on dressing children
- Course learners needing a systematic general history of dress textbook
- Readers with limited English who are unwilling to look up old terminology
Reading tips
- Read the title and opening first to grasp the author's basic stance on the "fine art" quality of clothing.
- Read the children's dress suggestions alongside contemporary ideas, noting the differences of the era.
- Look up old clothing terms as you encounter them and take brief notes to understand the context.
- Read the whole text in two or three sittings, focusing on one argument each time to avoid piling up details at once.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
FAQ
Is this book suitable for guiding how to dress children today?
Not very. The essay reflects nineteenth-century ideas of dress and aesthetic standards, and many of its suggestions carry the limitations of their time. Parents today seeking practical dress guidance should consult contemporary pediatric and clothing resources; this book is better read as a historical text of ideas.What English level is needed to read this book?
The essay is a public-domain English text, not long, but it contains nineteenth-century clothing terms and fairly formal expression. It suits readers with college-level English reading ability who are willing to look up old words and background; those with weaker English can first read related Chinese introductions before attempting the original.Does this e-edition have modern annotations?
Public-domain e-texts released by Project Gutenberg usually aim to reproduce the original text, with plain formatting and generally no modern editorial notes or introduction. Readers who need the author's background and historical context should consult dress-history or author studies separately.This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Merrifield, Mary P. (Mary Philadelphia), 1805？-188 Author · British · 1804–1889Mary P. Merrifield (1804–1889), born Mary Philadelphia Merrifield, was a British art historian and translator, and a pioneer in the collecting and study of seaweed. Her best-known work, Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress, discusses clothing from the perspective of art and aesthetics and offers specific suggestions on children's dress. Public information about her life is limited, and her output appears small; only one of her works is held in this collection. Her writing combines the rigour of art-historical scholarship with practical concern for everyday life, bridging art history and dress studies and leaving a valuable record of early seaweed research.