A Guide to Window-Dressing
Encyclopedia
A Guide to Window-Dressing (sometimes stylised
as A Guide to Window Dressing or A guide to window-dressing) is an illustrated anonymous publication
and handbook
on the subject of window-dressing first printed in London in 1883. It is one of the earliest known books printed on the topic specifically, providing detailed instructions and guidelines on window-dressing, drapery and display windows for the use of both professional retailers and privately-owned homes.
Through its descriptions of virtual topics in business and marketing
techniques associated with window product display, as well as the use of windows as fashionable parts of residential spaces, the book is considered a seminal work on both minute advertising procedures and home decor techniques exercised in late-19th century Europe.
Through a lack of general reprinting, the work is presently considered extremely rare. As of February 2010, WorldCat.org displays only one result for the book in worldwide public libraries – the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
in Buffalo, New York
in the United States. A reprinted version was published in 2008 by rare and out-of-print book publisher Kessinger Publishing
under ISBN 1-4367-3078-3.
The first edition of A Guide to Window-Dressing is designated with the OCLC
number 39203562.
located in the same street.
The preface
to the book states that it was created in response to numerous inquiries to the proprieters of The Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal for a comprehensive work on window-dressing, and goes on to promote itself by stating the following:
According to Google Books as well as a library
stamp seen on its fascimile of the guide, an extant copy of the first edition was found in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford University, first placed in the library's collections on 9 March 1987. This copy appears as a full-view readable version on that website, initially digitised on 1 May 2007.
Illustrations provided in the first edition of the work are, like the author, also uncredited.
and 15 chapters
following them. These are chronicalised as follows:
Each section of the book addresses different aspects of window-dressing and their respectable applications, and puts forward a common aesthetic value for distinct types of windows and window display.
Stylistics (linguistics)
Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective. As a discipline it links literary criticism and linguistics, but has no autonomous domain of its own...
as A Guide to Window Dressing or A guide to window-dressing) is an illustrated anonymous publication
Anonymous work
Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the United States it is legally defined as "a work on the copies or phonorecords of which no natural person is identified as author."...
and handbook
Handbook
A handbook is a type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference .A handbook is sometimes referred to as a vade mecum or pocket reference that is intended to be carried at all times.Handbooks may deal with any topic, and are generally...
on the subject of window-dressing first printed in London in 1883. It is one of the earliest known books printed on the topic specifically, providing detailed instructions and guidelines on window-dressing, drapery and display windows for the use of both professional retailers and privately-owned homes.
Through its descriptions of virtual topics in business and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
techniques associated with window product display, as well as the use of windows as fashionable parts of residential spaces, the book is considered a seminal work on both minute advertising procedures and home decor techniques exercised in late-19th century Europe.
Through a lack of general reprinting, the work is presently considered extremely rare. As of February 2010, WorldCat.org displays only one result for the book in worldwide public libraries – the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is located on Lafayette Square, Buffalo, New York. The current facility, built in 1963, replaced the original Cyrus Eidlitz Buffalo Public Library Building dedicated in February 1887. The first Buffalo Public Library, in turn, replaced the Erie County, New...
in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
in the United States. A reprinted version was published in 2008 by rare and out-of-print book publisher Kessinger Publishing
Kessinger Publishing
Kessinger Publishing is a publisher that offers for reprint rare, out of print and out of copyright books originally issued by other publishers. They are located in Whitefish, Montana.The original dates of publication of the titles are usually prior to ca...
under ISBN 1-4367-3078-3.
The first edition of A Guide to Window-Dressing is designated with the OCLC
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
number 39203562.
Background
According to the original 1883 text, A Guide to Window-Dressing was initially published earlier that year in a local periodical, The Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal. The journal article was written and submitted anonymously, the book citing the periodical's headquarters as "London: office of the 'The Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal,' 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, E.C." The book adapted was published by the now defunct W H & L Collingridge publishing house, at the City PressCity Press (London)
The City Press was a newspaper published during the 19th and early 20th Centuries by W H & L Collingridge Ltd.It was founded in 1857 by William Hill Collingridge to provide a newspaper for the City of London....
located in the same street.
The preface
Preface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
to the book states that it was created in response to numerous inquiries to the proprieters of The Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal for a comprehensive work on window-dressing, and goes on to promote itself by stating the following:
"No such book in connection with the draperyDraperyDrapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles . It may refer to cloth used for decorative purposes – such as around windows – or to the trade of retailing cloth, originally mostly for clothing, formerly conducted by drapers.In art history, drapery refers to any cloth or...
trade has, so far as they [the journal proprieters] are aware, been hitherto published, with the exception of a small prize essay published several years ago in connection with the same journal."
According to Google Books as well as a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
stamp seen on its fascimile of the guide, an extant copy of the first edition was found in the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
at Oxford University, first placed in the library's collections on 9 March 1987. This copy appears as a full-view readable version on that website, initially digitised on 1 May 2007.
Illustrations provided in the first edition of the work are, like the author, also uncredited.
Contents
The first edition of the book had been divided into a preface, a table of contentsTable of contents
A table of contents, usually headed simply "Contents" and abbreviated informally as TOC, is a list of the parts of a book or document organized in the order in which the parts appear...
and 15 chapters
Chapter (books)
A chapter is one of the main divisions of a piece of writing of relative length, such as a book. Chapters can be numbered in the case of such writings as law code or they can be titled. For example, the first chapters of some well-known novels are titled:*"The Boy Who Lived" – Harry Potter...
following them. These are chronicalised as follows:
- Preface
- Contents
- Chapters
- I (1) — The Importance of a Good Window
- II (2) — Qualifications to Attain Success
- III (3) — Colour
- IV (4) — The Silk Window
- V (5) — The Print Window
- VI (6) — The Fancy Dress Window
- VII (7) — The Drapery Window
- VIII (8) — The Mourning Window
- IX (9) — The Costume Window
- X (10) — The Mantle Window
- XI (11) — Fancy Windows
- XII (12) — Trimming and Haberdashery Windows
- XIII (13) — Mixed Windows
- XIV (14) — Fittings and Tickets
- XV (15) — Door-Dressing
Each section of the book addresses different aspects of window-dressing and their respectable applications, and puts forward a common aesthetic value for distinct types of windows and window display.