300 pages of Pennsylvanian Samplers in colour, black & white, details, charted excerpts, history, origins, incredible research... and more and more than that. Excellent condition book with very good jacket in protective cover. Can be purchased with costs split over 2 months to help smooth the budget.
It was my privilege when I was in Deerfield in 2005 attending a symposium on the European origins of American samplers to talk with Tandy Hersh and discuss links between Moravian and Quaker samplers.
There is something very special about these samplers and it has to do with repetition and clear spacing which lends a distinctive rhythm to the overall surface. Colour choice is usually a limited palette, which provides a sense of unity for all the small motifs.
There are a number of charted patterns throughout the book - this one here reminds me of similar motifs on Vierlander samplers.
Like the Quaker medallions, these samplers appear to have a unique vocabulary of motifs which is transmitted across communities and time.
As you can see from these representative pages, all the images are a good size and fill the page.
Above is one of my own special favourites because of the free-form flowers at the base of the sampler.
This rose and black palette reminds me of the samplers from Alsace - and indeed many migrating families from Germany to the US would stop off en-route in Switzerland or the Palatinates which included the area that is now Alsace.
The heart in this detail shot is reminiscent of hearts found on Swedish bridegrooms' shirts
What you can see above is a sampler design drawn out on a hand-drawn grid - this is just so fascinating to see the pre-plans made for the stitching, it helps so much in our understanding of how samplers were designed and arranged. The exact hand-drawing of the grid must have been time-consuming and tedious - oh, and if you made a mistake......
And I couldn't help but show you this sampler, too. I love it!
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