I really liked this. She goes into the differences between the different laces with wonderful close up plates of the pieces. She talks about the ground, the threads and dating the pieces, which again assists us in the determination of whether our technique at reproduction is based on a lace in our time period. There is an extensive bibliography and a listing of museums that contain lace.

A good book for beginning to learn the technique of reticella. Although the preparation of the ground cloth is logical, it is questionable as to whether it was done that way in our period of study. It is based on Ruskin lace, or Amelia Ars lace, done in the late 1800’s as a revival of reticella.

This book has some of the clearest examples for creating the buttonhole stitch, the buttonhole stitch with whipped return, the scalloped edging and the "little pyamids". Excellent book for technique. It has excerpts from several earlier books, but is unfortunately not a true reproduction as it does not reproduce all the pages. The plates can not be used alone for documentation because they are not dated.

A wonderful book for clearing up some terminology issues. Beautiful plates and a great recommended reading section. This book contains her definitions for the many terms you find in other lace books. It would be good to read this book before digging into Palliser or to at least have it on hand. This is the only other place I have found information on hedebo in the lace publications I have.

This book is great for overcoming the shortcomings of the Palliser book toward Spanish lace. Very comprehensive with 410 plates on lace. It is based in part on an exhibition in 1915 in Madrid of rare linens and lace plus additional information Drawn work and Cut work is dealt with extensively. Does not cover technique.

This book covers lace history from various inventory listings and digs. Not much on technique but very interesting reading on the use of lace and the subsequent and frequent sumptary laws. Terminology can be very confusing. A comprehensive, if eclectic, study with a heavy leaning toward bobbin lace.

The forerunner to her Bobbin & Needle Laces, contains extensive information on identifying different types of lace. Extremely clear details but a little less information on drawn work and cut work than her newest book. Also covers the identification of machine made laces that imitate period laces.

This Dover book reproduces 243 pictures from the original book by Elisa Ricci. Pictures are dated but it is not stated where they were taken and none of the text of the original book is reproduced. You would only want to use this for inspiration and partial documentation.

This is great on technique but is definitely not meant to be a resource for needle lace in our studied time period. This is the only book I have read that gives clear examples for attaching objects to the lace. There is a complete section with wonderful illustrations on attaching Shi Sha glass, rocks (jewels), etc. This book looks at needle lace as an art form. Stitch examples are very clear but you would need to reference another work to find out whether they were used in period.

This is a reproduction of the original work published in 1938 under the same title. There is a section on Reticella and a section on Lacis but most of the book deals with laces that are out of period. This is the only one of my books that covers Carrickmacross, the Irish lace of the early 1800’s. The instructions on Reticella are fair with some good stitch illustrations and a good example of the drawn cloth framework.

This book is also an abridged reproduction of several other earlier works. It has some very clear photographs and briefly discusses the history of reticella. This book provides very good stitch examples but also provides instructions for using braided tapes for the motifs. I have not found to have been done in period and think that it was part of the revival movement of the early 1900’s. The patterns are not referenced so care would have to be taken to document them elsewhere and use this book to see the stitches more clearly.

This was first published in 1908. Margaret Jourdain was one of Mrs. Palliser’s editors and provides evidence for much earlier needle laces than Palliser. Again, like Palliser, the majority of the book deals with bobbin lace but the sections on cut work, drawn work and lacis are worth reading. This edition provides footnotes pointing out some of the differences in dates between Palliser and Jourdain and some addtional information on early pattern books.

Some examples of both drawn work and cut work. Although a book on embroidery, this book is worth seeing for pure inspiration. It will make you want to pick up a needle and thread when nothing else will. Out of print and hard to find, try to get it on interlibrary loan.

Another reproduction of a pattern book by Vecellio. Vecellio published many pattern books between 1521-1601. The text is in Italian. The patterns are gorgeous and designed for cutwork or punto di aire.

Extremely good examples of the buttonhole stitch with single return. Unfortunately, all of the lace instructions are for needle laces that are out of my period of study. However, the instructions and the photographs are clear and beautiful and for technique, it is a wonderful book.

This is a reproduction of one of the pattern books put out by Vinciolo. There are patterns for both point couppe and lacis.