At Long Last! English Medieval Embroidery by Christie – for All!

Well, this week, one of my Christmas Wishes of Old came true.

For years and years and years, I’ve longed for my own copy of Grace Christie’s monumental work of research, English Medieval Embroidery: A Brief Survey of English Embroidery Dating from the Beginning of the Tenth Century to the End of the Fourteenth, published in 1938.

This Massive Tome is pretty rare. I’ve been fortunate to spend some time with it in the Topeka Public Library’s rare book rooms, but it’s hard to have enough time with a book, comfortably, when you’re in a supervised library room, wearing white gloves and under the watchful eye of the librarian who apparently expects that you are going to do I-Don’t-Know-What with the book. Steal it? Ample as I am, I don’t think I could discretely stuff this book down my shirt. It’s Huge! (Uh, not that I would, even if I could…)

Over the years, I’ve had a few opportunities to purchase a copy of the book when it has come up in auctions or through rare book sellers.

The least expensive offering I’ve encountered was $1,200.00. And I’ve seen it available for close to $4,000.00.

Needless to say, I’ve never acquired a copy. Yes, yes. I’d like one. No, no. I’d never pay that much for one.

But guess what?

I got a very welcome email from my friend Margaret Cobleigh the other day, who is practically the Keeper of the Internet when it comes to knowing when Great Things of Embroidery Interest surface online.

And in that email, there was a link.

And at the end of that link, there was a page.

And on that page, there was a link.

And at the end of that link was….

A PDF!

But not just any PDF.

It was a downloadable PDF of A. G. Christie’s monumental work of research, English Medieval Embroidery: A Brief Survey of English Embroidery Dating from the Beginning of the Tenth Century to the End of the Fourteenth, published in 1938.

And because I know many of you are enthusiasts of embroidery history, and because I know that this book is one of the Greats, I think you should have the link, too.

If you’d like to download a copy of AG Christie’s English Medieval Embroidery: A Brief Survey of English Embroidery Dating from the Beginning of the Tenth Century to the End of the Fourteenth, published in 1938, you will find it here on this Texas Tech University Libraries page.

I’m so grateful that Texas Tech has made this book available for everyone! What a gift!

Coming Up! A Big Sale!

Next week, we’re having a site-wide sale on Needle ‘n Thread, to celebrate our First Ever Christmas Open House – especially for those who can’t come. Keep an eye out for it! We don’t do sales (let alone site-wide sales) often, but I think this event is definitely worth celebrating, and in this small way, we can all celebrate together.

The second weekend of our open house is this Friday and Saturday (December 6 & 7) at our studio in St. Marys, KS. You can read about the open house here. It’ll be a while before we’re open again for visiting, so if you’re in the vicinity and want to see what we’re all about, stop on by!

We have a bunch of beautiful shaded Au Ver a Soie metallic thread sets available right now in the shop, including the new green! We also have all the holiday sets in all three sizes (4, 8, and 12). If you’re looking for stocking stuffers – or just a treat – check them out!

You can read more about the shaded sets here. You’ll find them listed under embroidery supplies in the shop, here.

And yes! Our beeswax petites (I recently wrote about them here) are back in stock! Oh my word, this was the best batch of beeswax ever. When you open the box, prepare to be regaled with the sweetest scent!

Hope your week is going well so far!