A Living Mystery: The International Art & History of Crochet

by Annie Louise Potter

A brief history of crochet as written by a crochet enthusiast who has collected many examples of netting, lace-making, and crochet. There are many lovely photographs of historical variations on crochet and various tools used in lace-making and in related arts.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Crochet

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Two Readers in Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in 1990, but is much more up-t0-date on the complex history of crochet and related needle arts than several more recent books I've read.

Contains a lovely section that is almost a tribute to the business acumen of one of the primary 19th century popularizers of crochet, Eléonore Riego de la Branchardière.

p. 85 "Mlle. Riego devoted her life to her profession and its artistic expression. Following an 'avan-garde' career style for women of her day,this extraordinary lady is know as a creative neddlewoman, an accomplished crochet designer, a teacher of commoners as well a royalty, and a prolific writer and publisher."

The book is by Annie Louise Potter (the owner of Annie's Attic) a contemporary crochet businessperson, and one can't help but think that this author appreciates more than most that the popularization of the needlearts require a good amount of needleWORK.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to read and I found myself wading through just a page or two per day. The logic processes between sentences and paragraphs were not always clear to me, although the gist of the book is showing how crochet is related to past (similar) kinds of crafting, such as lace-making, tambour, etc. Other researchers have indicated that crochet truly developed in relatively modern days, around the time of Queen Victoria, who helped popularize it. The photographs are beautiful and it is interesting to see how similar concepts to crochet develop over time.

Not recommended as an authoritative source for crochet history, however.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the history of crochet for a general audience. Although the style of the book is dated, it draws upon more sources regarding early crochet than others I have read, and draws in examples from more countries, though there is special emphasis on England, Ireland, and the U.S. (the author is American).

[Lark · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this book had an editor, they need to be fired. It would have been a much better book with 1/3 less gushing commentary.

Also, this was in no way a history. The subject matter badly needed organization - linear by date, linear by country or even linear by type of needle/thread work. The latter was attempted, yet wandered even within designated sections.
Perhaps someone who crochets would have understood this book, but for a non-crocheter, it was difficult to understand. I truly had to work at figuring out to what, exactly, the author was referring. The pictures in some places helped, but a group of them were bunched in the back without much explanation.

Speaking of the pictures, those were excellent and gorgeous. The glass globes to enhance light were a fascinating bit of trivia that I'm glad were explained.

The cave homes of Cappadocia were also fascinating and new to me. I spent a happy evening studying them.

In the beginning of the book, the author asks the questions :Where/how did crocheting start ? She never answered her own questions. Near as I can tell, threadwork started spontaneously in many locations thousands of years ago and changed over time in many different ways. Crocheting as we know it ? -Maybe- the last 1-200 years, somewhere in Europe.