The authors note, ‘the desire for a new variety of goods led to gradual changes in the behaviour of ordinary households in Western Europe’. Gradually, in order to afford the now accessible luxury of sugar, the subsistence economy was abandoned in favour of wage labour. People accepted working longer and harder to acquire these goods, which, according to accounts from the late 18th century, had become essential needs.

But How were the products made?

#work #needs #materialHistory #history #Europe #wages #accumulation #capitalism #primitiveAccumulation #society #sociology #18thCentury #UK

Cursory checking my collection of newspaper scans, it seems that the phenomenon is more common than I thought. And apparently I did not pay attention to this material aspect of periodicals when reading them as sources for my research on #Damascus.
The next stamp is from a copy of *Thamarāt al-Funūn* (ثمرات الفنون) also published in Beirut. This time the scan is from a private collection of the editor's heirs and held by the German Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB).

#ArabPeriodicalStudies #BookHistory #MaterialHistory #PeriodicalStudies

Any scholar of #MaterialHistory or #DressHistory or #FiberArts can tell you the value of antique textiles, and how most humanities scholars can tell you about how archives conceal as much as they reveal.

Well, the same is true of recreation. Looking at an object, even using an object, cannot give you the kinds of knowledge that comes from making and remaking.

That work is hard as fuck and there is so much failure along the way. So, so much failure, and so much reward.

#Quilts #quilting