Design Quality, Mechanization and Taste in the British Textile Printing Industry, 1839-1899

摘要

This article considers the design debate in the printed-textile industry of the nineteenth century through an examination of textile samples, focusing on two key aspects: the need for design education and the development of diverging tastes between the upper and working-classes, and the effect of mechanization on design quality. This debate has dominated the historiography of printed textiles, yet is by no means exclusive to the textile industry. The aim of this article is not to assess the design quality of printed textiles produced in the North-West of England for the domestic market during the nineteenth century but to see the discussion of design quality in context and demonstrate how nineteenth-century ideas of design quality and taste were perpetuated throughout the twentieth century. Using the textile designs of Edmund Potter & Co. and Samuel Matley & Son found in the Board of Trade registers as a lens through which to unpack these issues, this article illustrates the value of examining the material evidence in relation to the design debate in the printed textile industry of the nineteenth century.