Lace sample books

I had an enjoyable day earlier this week looking at some lace sample books with two friends at an auction viewing. Lace sample books seem to fall into three groups, but they all seem to be large, thick and heavy! They are all produced by lace-making companies either to record their own products or to inspire their designers. The first type include samples of the lace made by a producer and often show a variety of laces based on a similar design. Some of these are for the producer’s own use but others seem to be designed for salesmen to take to buyers to show the different laces for sale and these may include prices and names. The third type of sample book includes snippets of lace of all different types, both handmade and machine made, glued onto the pages and these are generally inspiration books for the lace designers. The image shows some samples of designs that were put together as inspiration and includes lace and embroidery designs.