Re:[lace] Lace reference in literature

[Bridget Marrow]

Hi Mark and other Arachnids

like you, I've never read LES  MISERABLES, and I must be one of the few
remaining Londoners who hasn't seen the musical.  But I know (I've just
checked) that the story begins in 1815, and the main action takes place not
during the "original" French Revolution, but a later uprising in 1832.  This
makes a big difference to the lace.



Yes, Mechlin would still have been fashionable, but the machine lace industry
was already flourishing: The first machines had been smuggled out of England
in parts, and were set up in Calais, which remained the centre for Machine
Lace production until the 20th century.



However a lace "factory" was often more of a depot, where cottage lacemakers
would bring their work and the wholesaler, or "factor" would supply them with
patterns and thread.  Obviously, they were not allowed to sell lace to anyone
else.  This was the system in England, and I'm sure was much the same in
France - after the glitch during the Reign of Terror (c1790-1800) when
lacemaking almost died out.



Bridget, in Pinner, where the day finally seems to be brightening up.

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