The Typical Tudor
Now available to pre-order!
There has been some disruption to The Typical Tudor’s publication schedule partly because the launch events – the Missing Persons conference and exhibition – have been postponed from April 2020 to October 2021 and partly because of the various challenges we are all facing with practical projects with the coronavirus restrictions.
Jane and Ninya look forward to launching the book in early 2021 as circumstances permit. The Tudor Tailor team has taken the opportunity to review the material in the book, polish the footnotes and chase down some elusive images which would not have been feasible for inclusion for the April 2020 launch date. We all hope the book will be all the better for it and that, despite any potential delays, it will be worth the wait.
Thanks to everyone who has already bought the book for your support and enthusiasm. We also appreciate your patience. Preorders are still being accepted – see below for price information and how to buy.
The discounted preorder price is only available until the book is published.
A poll of readers confirmed this as the cover for the book by an overwhelming majority!
The Typical Tudor features:
- 160 pages with colour illustrations throughout
- Detailed line drawings and diagrams by Michael Perry
- Sumptuous full-colour photographs of reconstructed garments
- Sewing patterns and knitting instructions for more than 30 garments and headwear
To pre-order the book please use the appropriate button below based on your delivery location. For more detailed information about Royal Mail’s definitions of Europe, Zone 1 and Zone 2, click here
Summary
We are pleased to announce that pre-orders for The Typical Tudor are now available. This new book presents a fascinating introduction to the range of garments worn by ordinary men and women 500 years ago. It draws on a wide variety of primary sources for sound evidence of clothing for the mean and middling sort from 1485 to 1603.
The Typical Tudor builds on the authors’ previous works The Tudor Tailor (2006) and The Tudor Child (2013) by surveying the available sources with statistical rigour. Most noteworthy of these is the database of more than 55,000 garments and accessories drawn from transcribed wills, accounts, inventories and court records. The book overcomes many of the challenges of research into lower and middle-class dress by diligently cross-referencing these three categories of evidence to provide a new and comprehensive survey of historical dress for the period.
Sources for people’s appearance 500 years ago offer meagre clues compared to the wealth of material recording the elite. The Tudor Tailor’s investigations uncover what is available to help paint a picture of their clothes. Key questions in this hunt for clues are: How representative is what remains? Is any of it is typical of the lower and middling sort who lived in the Early Modern era? And how does it help reconstruct their looks and lives? The contradictions and confusions presented by these three main sources must be approached with caution. How can this patchy evidence provide a picture of what was usual in the Tudor era? What was the range of options for everyday and best dress?
All averages are based on a broad sweep of data which includes outliers as well as those firmly in the mainstream. Some extant evidence is extraordinary and therefore atypical but still relevant. The vast majority of what once existed in the wardrobes of ordinary people is long gone and only indirect indications remain. Can all these fragments fit together? Even the most robust interrogation of the best evidence provides only a shadowy glimpse of who these people were and what they wore.
The Typical Tudor aims to bring together pictorial, archaeological and documentary material and cross-reference them to provide reconstructions of dress worn by ordinary people in the sixteenth century. The book suggests date ranges for specific styles, variations on basic shapes, and the options for colours and textiles used for specific garments and accessories reflecting conventional wear.
Take a look behind the scenes at the recent photoshoots for some sneak peeks at the garments to be featured in the The Typical Tudor.
