Fashions from Godey's Lady's Book, January 1853

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we recently stumbled across a bound volume of Godey's Lady's Book from 1853.  Once a month now, I'll post the collection of fashion-related plates and articles that appeared in each monthly issue.  I'll begin with January, in hope and anticipation that you costuming ladies out there might find inspiration for a new winter project.  This will give plenty of time for plotting and planning and sewing in advance of the season!

I apologize in advance for the quality of the images.  Although I have a scanner, I've discovered that there's no way I can preserve the integrity of the already fragile binding of the book and lay it flat.  That means photos are the only options, and even those are difficult to achieve because of the tightly bound pages.  I've done my best to ensure that everything is as clear and visible and undistorted as possible, but if there's something you really can't read or see and would like to have clarified, just let me know and I'll see what more I can do.  I've set the images up so that if you click on them, they'll link you to their flickr page, where you'll be able to enlarge them all considerably and thus more easily read each one.  Enjoy!

I love this one: children's fashion for January 1853.
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"Centre Table" ladies fashions for January 1853.
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Sontag cloak in black velvet.

Chemisettes.

Gentleman's smoking cap.

Notes on NY and Philadelphia fashions for January 1853.

If you'd like to use or re-post or share these images, you're certainly welcome to do so.  The only thing we ask is that credit is given where due: please provide a link back to this blog with the re-posted picture.  Thanks!