The Bluest Hands: A Social and Economic History of Women Dyers in Abeokuta (Nigeria), 1890-1940

by Byfield, Judith A.

• ISBN13: 9780852556009
• ISBN10: 0852556004
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-01
• Publisher: James Currey
• More Book Details
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Summary

By the second decade of the twentieth century in Abeokuta, a Yoruba town in southwestern Nigeria, most dyers were producing adire cloth, which featured a variety of patterns created by resist dyeing with indigo onto a primarily European manufactured cloth. The author highlights the dynamic way in which these women engaged with the colonial economy, taking full advantage of its infrastructure and credit, as well as the new technologies and the availability of imported European cloth. Reveals how the women dyers constantly adapted to changes in the market, technology, political and economic conditions, consumer tastes and competition from other imported goods so that the industry not only survived but thrived as the town of Abeokuta was increasingly incorporated into the international economy. North America: Heinemann

Table of Contents

Introduction to the 1994 edition	p. 9
Preface to the 1950 edition	p. 15
The Botanical Artist	p. 23
The Legacy of Antiquity	p. 29
The Rebirth of Naturalism	p. 39
The First Printed Herbals	p. 54
The Herbals of Brunfels and Fuchs	p. 61
The Decline of the Woodcut	p. 73
Some Flower Painters of the Late Sixteenth Century	p. 88
The Early Etchers and Metal Engravers	p. 98
Rabel, Robert and Aubriet	p. 114
Holland: The Flower-piece and the Dutch Influence	p. 127
Some Botanical Books of the Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries	p. 147
The Age of Ehret	p. 159
West and East	p. 175
The Age of Redoute	p. 194
The Botanical Magazine	p. 211
Kilburn, Sowerby and Sydenham Edwards	p. 218
Francis and Ferdinand Bauer	p. 223
Thornton and the Temple of Flora	p. 236
England in the Early Nineteenth Century	p. 244
Walter Fitch: The Age of the Lithograph	p. 261
John Ruskin: A Digression	p. 272
The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century	p. 276
The Twentieth Century	p. 293
Epilogue: Five Hundred Years of Botanical Illustration	p. 325
Series of Eight Articles by W.H. Fitch on Botanical Drawing; from the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1869	p. 332
Some Illustrated Books on British Flowering Plants	p. 341
Some Sources of Further Information	p. 344
Bibliographical Index to Appendix C	p. 351
The Jill Smythies Award	p. 352
List of Illustrations	p. 353
Index	p. 363
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