Governance of the Consuming Passions: A History of Sumptuary Law [Hardcover]

Alan Hunt (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 466 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031212922X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312129224
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,021,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The information is fascinating and well analyzed., March 17, 1999

By 

Pauline Mckinnon (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Governance of the Consuming Passions: A History of Sumptuary Law (Hardcover)

Did you know that: -in 1429 Scottish law required that all men with an income over 20 pounds a year wear a fur hat? -an act passed in England, in 1533, stipulated that only members of the Royal Family were allowed to wear purple silk, and that crimson, scarlet or blue velvet could legally be worn only by members of the upper nobility? -in Massachussetts Bay US, in 1651, anyone making less than 200 pounds a year was forbidden to wear gold or silver lace or gold or silver buttons?

Alan Hunt takes us through the fascinating history of dress restrictions. Even today, in our modern capitalistic state, we can see how sumptuary laws still exert influence by observing the vestments worn by the clergy and their assistants.

The book's cover is stunning in all its sumptious beauty. Note the green velvet wedding gown trimmed in ermine and overflowing into a train. The crimson cloth in the bed chamber is elegant. So is the beaver hat worn by the groom in his sable trimmed robe.

The scene is a pastiche of the "Arnolfini Marriage" painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434.

Pauline McKinnon