22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!, April 16, 2005
This is an outstanding book. It replaces the first edition,
which has been the standard reference for early sewing machines
for the past several years. I am not a serious collector, but I had a
couple
of Ca. 1910 sewing machines whose maker I wanted to identify. Not
only does the book identify the maker, it also gives an indication
of the approximate value. I tend to disagree with
the author's assertion that the values for 20th century machines
are "at the low end of the scale." Perhaps he is comparing
their value with much earlier machines (1850 - 1900) - the
area which is the main focus of this book.
an interesting chapter on the history of the sewing machine
is included. And if you want to restore a machine, one short chapter
takes you thru the restoration process. Though short, this
excellent chapter details exactly what one needs to do to restore
a 100 year old sewing machine (or for that matter, any antique
consisting of wood and metal).
There is a chapter on toy sewing machines; for some reason, the
author included several German examples (I thought this book was
about American machines).
Also, several other related appendices are present - the last one
is cute. It contains early photos of sewing machines and their
users, & many are quite amusing.
All-in-all, this has to be the absolute best book on the topic,
despite a few shortcomings.
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