June, 1 913 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



219 



Old American printed handkerchief. City Hall, New York and New Old American printed handkerchief. Steam frigate "Fulton the First" 

 York street criers subjects and American pastime subjects 



Old Printed Handkerchiefs 



By Robert H. Van Court 

 Photographs by T. C. Turner 



HE most ordinary possessions of one age calities which are truly rural. Now the makers of the simple lit- 



become the highly valued treasures of a later tie objects, whether of pottery or of printed fabrics, naturally 



day, when change of customs has led to their adapted their wares to meet what they considered the demand 



disuse or when Dame Fashion with her well- of the greatest number of prospective buyers. In France and 



known fickleness has decreed some new form more especially in England the history of the day was printed 



for what is a household necessity. The upon handkerchiefs. Were an American political campaign in 



patient little women who toiled over the embroidered progresssomeenterprisingfirm of cotton manufacturers either 



samplers of a century ago would have opened their childish in England or America, would most assuredly offer for the 



eyes in amazement could they have seen the day when eager choice of a willing public, handkerchiefs bearing the por- 



collectors would crowd an auction room to compete in terms traits of the rival candidates, together with possibly a picture 



of dollars and cents for the small squares of embroidered of the White House wherein each candidate aspired to 



canvas which recorded the modest attainments of the youth- dwell. If space permitted the print might also include a 



ful makers' skill. The potters of one hundred years ago picture of the Capitol, regarded, as ever, as the most strik- 



produced their blue and white plates and platters for the ing symbol of American government. The printed handker- 

 chief, as will be seen, was 



ordinary use of the com- 

 merce of the times, and if 

 they printed upon their 

 wares a picture of the 

 "Landing of La Fayette" or 

 some small views of the 

 Erie Canal, it was certainly 

 with no thought of the day 

 when their simple pottery 

 would be considered treasure 

 indeed. 



Just so with the handker- 

 chiefs printed upon cotton 

 or linen which came into use 

 about the time of the ending 

 of the colonial period and 

 which were so popular dur- 

 ing the closing years of the 

 eighteenth century. They 

 continued to find a place in 

 public affection until well 

 into the end of the nine- 

 teenth, and they are still 

 somewhat in demand in lo- 



English printed handkerchief 



the precursor as a campaign 

 emblem, of the badge, the 

 button or the "pennant" 

 which meets the popular 

 demand to-day. 



Then again, in times of 

 national sorrow or of wide- 

 spread rejoicing, handker- 

 chiefs bearing appropriate 

 adornment would find a 

 ready sale. Many such 

 prints were made to com- 

 memorate the death of 

 Washington. One shows an 

 impressive monument which 

 stands no doubt merely as a 

 symbol of grief, for it bears 

 no resemblance whatever to 

 the modest tomb wherein 

 Washington was actually 

 laid. A suitable inscription 

 and glowing epitaph appear 

 upon the monument, which is 



