Customer Reviews

Dress Accessories, c.1150-c.1450 (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London)

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This book, part of a collective of what has become to be known as "the London Excavations" is invaluable for academic or hobbyist alike. Complete in its recording and detailing of dress accessories such as brooches, buttons, buckles, bells, purses,hair accessories, etcetera it provides a complete breakdown of information with excellant quality illustrations. Provides extensive commentary on materials and methods, uses, and contextural information. This is not just a compilation of data, its an extensive body of work on dress accessories of the period and their use.

An excellent piece of work for those interested in fashion history or the items of everyday life in Medieval London. The extensive bibliography has been of great help to me in my own research.

I was highly entertained when I came across the section dedicated to the "compact mirror"! I must also point out that the section on pins was very informative. I was a little disappointed that the 3 sections on belt buckles and bits takes up almost half the book.

However, one cannot blame the authors for what the people of London threw away over 500 years ago. What has survived has been revealed in the best possible light with this book. A must have for the avid and sometimes historian. Bravo!

The Museum of London is putting out invaluable book for writers and researched. This is never going to be a bestseller, or even something the casual reader will be interested in. It's very details, extensively photographed artifacts of dress accessories for the Medieval Period, running 1150-1450.

They go into the field work and the finds, how the items are date. They cover girdles (not the kind Marlyn Monroe tells Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon to take off and spread out!) but the style women wore around the waist of their gowns. They ranged from fabric ones to metal. They cover buckles, how they were made, very detailed pictures, then diagrams of how they were constructed. Brooches, buttons, belts, pins, hair accessories, chains, pendants, fingers rights, bells, purses, mirrors, combs, cosmetic sets, needlecases and more. Often they included patterns.

They discuss the metallurgical of these items, how they were made. It will bore most people bloody stiff. To the historical writer of the period, they will be in heaven.

Highly recommended for the Historical Romance writer who wants to get it right. It's perfection for someone wanting the tiny details.

This covers two of my interests: Medieval clothing and archaeology. It is well written, easy to read with many pictures. I have enjoyed it very much.

This is a great book for those who are seriously interested in the Middle Ages. Historians, living-history-adepts and re-enactors all can find what they are looking for. There is a lot of information, perhaps even too much for non-professionals (pages and pages on what was found where, with detailed descriptions). On the other hand, the drawings are just as detailed and this makes it a wonderful book just to browse and 'look at the pictures'. For a non-native speaker of English the language may be a bit difficult at times.