ISMACS' Sewing Machine Book List
SEWING MACHINE HISTORY
19th Century British Sewing Machine Companies
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Author: |
Geoff Dickens |
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Format: |
Hardcover. Illustrated. |
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This quality A4 hardback volume comprises of 280 pages containing in excess of 600 illustrations and colour photographs. Researched entirely afresh from primary sources, we believe the book offers the most comprehensive insight ever produced on the subject of native British sewing machine companies during the Victorian period. The histories of over 70 establishments can be found, ranging from the largest to the most obscure, a number of which have not been referenced for more than a century. For each company you will find dates of operation, patents, registered designs, machines produced and principal individuals concerned. |
The First Conglomerate - 145 years of the Singer company
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Author: |
Don Bissell |
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Publisher: |
Audenreed Press, Brunswick, Maine |
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Format: |
Hardcover. Illustrated. |
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Date: |
1999 |
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Pages |
239 |
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ISBN: |
1-87941872 |
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A thorough history of 145 years of Singer concentrating, not on the machines, but on the company's role in the financial market. Fair history, but many factual errors on the technical side. |
Genius Rewarded, or the Story of the Sewing Machine
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Author: |
John Scott |
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Publisher: |
J. J. Caulon, New York: |
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Format: |
Paperback |
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Date: |
1880 |
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Pages: |
63 |
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Heavy Singer-bias. No credit to anyone else and likely commissioned by the Singer Company. Excellent descriptions of Singer’s factory practices and procedures at a time when it was just getting into its swing. Has been serialised in ISMACS News. Downloadable online. The first two chapters of the ISMACS News serilisation can be found here: |
History of the Sewing Machine
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Author: |
James Parton |
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Publisher: |
Originally, The Howe S.M. Co. Reprinted by Merchant Books (Watchmaker Publishing) 2008. |
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Format: |
7 1/2" x 9 1/4", softcover (2008 ed.) |
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Pages: |
45 |
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Date: |
1867 |
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ISBN: |
1-60386-171-8 |
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"As originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, May 1867..." Lots of early history but told from a distinctly Howe point of view. Shameless P.R. but plenty to interest. Howe Snr.'s own story is pure melodrama. At the back is printed the Howe 1867 catalogue. Recently reprinted at a reasonable price. |
The International History of the Sewing Machine
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Author: |
Frank Godfrey |
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Publisher: |
Robert Hale (London). Trans-Atlantic Publications (U.S.A.) |
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Format: |
Hardback |
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Date: |
1982 |
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Pages: |
300 |
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ISBN: |
0-709198760 |
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Covers industrial and domestic machines but, sadly, concentrates on easily-available material rather than serious research. The history is taken up to the 1960 Japanese virtual-takeover of the industry. |
Peacefully Working To Conquer the World: Singer Sewing Machines In Foreign Markets, 1854-1898
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Author: |
Robert Bruce Davies |
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Publisher: |
Arno Press, New York. (Originally published: Business History Review 43 (1969): Pages 299-325) |
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Date: |
1976. |
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ISBN: |
0 40509270 9 |
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Academic but readable thesis by University of Wisconsin professor detailing Singer’s exemplary global marketing, based on company records. Sound history with some technical errors. |
The Queen of Inventions: How the Sewing Machine Changed the World
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Author: |
Laurie Carlson |
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Publisher: |
Millbrook Press, Brookfield, Connecticut, USA |
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Date: |
2003 |
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ISBN |
0 76132706-1 |
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For children. |
Selling the Sewing Machine Around the World: Singer’s International Marketing Strategies, 1850–1920
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Author: |
Andrew Godley |
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Published in: |
Enterprise & Society - Volume 7, Number 2, June 2006. OUP, Oxford Journals, pp. 266-314 |
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Format: |
Readable online |
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Meaty, academic rationale of Singer’s pioneering and hugely successful globalisation by the Reader in Business History at Reading University. |
The Servant in The House – A Brief History of the Sewing Machine
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Author: |
Frederick Lewis Lewton, Curator of Textiles Division |
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Publisher: |
The Smithsonian Institute, from the Smithsonian Report for 1929, pages 359-383. Smithsonian publication 3056. |
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Format: |
Available online (download) with 8 plates. |
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Date: |
1929 |
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Pages: |
24 |
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Academic history of the industry told in biographies of the principal protagonists. |
The Singer Saga
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Author: |
Charles M. Eastley |
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Publisher: |
Merlin Books |
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Format: |
Paperback. No illustrations. |
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Date: |
1983 |
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Pages: |
52 |
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ISBN: |
0-86303089 0 |
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Lightweight biography of Isaac Singer with considerable censoring of the old reprobate's real lifestyle. |
Singer and the Sewing Machine (A capitalist romance)
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Author: |
Ruth Brandon |
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Publisher: |
Barrie & Jenkins Ltd. 24 Highbury Crescent, London N5 1RX (U.K.), J.B. Lippincott Company (USA) |
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Format: |
8 ½” x 5 ½”. Paperback. B&W |
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Date: |
1977 (hardback), 1996 (paperback – publ. Kodansha International) |
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Pages: |
244 |
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ISBN: |
0-21420156-2 |
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A well-researched, warts-and-all biography of the extraordinary Isaac Singer. A complicated subject expertly handled as an easy-to-read story, rather than a list of historical facts. Good bibliography for detectives. Not technical. A must for fans. |
Recovering the Lost Years - essays on the history of the Podolsk S.M. factory (formerly Singer's)
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Author: |
LudmillaTolstukhina |
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Publisher: |
Moscow |
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Format: |
8 ½” x 5 ½”. Paperback. B&W |
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Date: |
2000 |
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Pages: |
455 |
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ISBN: |
5-88289-143-4 |
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A fascinating and frank account of the Russian Singer factory, celebrating its hundredth anniversary. A candid commentary on the Soviet appropriation of the factory (sub-headline: "Bye bye America") and its subsequent progress. It outlasted nearly all the other Singer plants. Loaded with photographs, documents, first hand accounts and biographies of the individuals concerned. In Russian. |
Stories of Oldway
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Author: |
Joyce Packe |
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Publisher: |
Torbay Borough Council Print Unit, Torbay, UK. |
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Format: |
8” x 6”, paperback, B&W photographs |
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Date: |
1988 |
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Pages: |
21 |
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A short but thorough, illustrated history of The Wigwam, Singer’s extravagant retirement mansion in Torquay, UK. Probably intended as a guidebook for visitors – it’s a fascinating subject. |