Federation University Historical Collection
Accessory - Bookmark, Adam And Charles Black, The English Lakes and Religious Bookmark, 1949
This bookmark was found in a book called 'The English Lakes' owned by Elizabeth Chatham-Holmes.
The bookmark is a Stevenograph. In 1854 Thomas Stevens began with weaving plain and fancy ribbons, but was soon experimenting with a development of jacquard weaving to produce pictures. For this, the picture was plotted on squared paper, in the fashion of a cross-stitch embroidery design, and a large card then perforated to represent each colour appearing in every "line" of the picture. The cards, arranged in an endless chain and attached to the loom, controlled the manipulation of the warp threads. Each time the shuttle crossed the loom a different card came into use, changing the arrangement of the warp threads and, consequently, the pattern woven..When the industry collapsed in 1860, Stevens determined to make use of his experiments by producing pictures in such variety as to appeal to all tastes. The earliest productions seem to have been bookmarkers... The pictures included portraits of celebrities and local scenes, scriptural texts, hymns and psalms, and verses from the poets. Stevens also introduced to the Admiralty a hat ribbon with the name of the ship woven in gold wire. This he patented; it was adopted and for many years the firm was the sole supplier to the Admiralty Contracts Department. https://stevengraphs.com/thomstevandh.html
Also found in the book was a small card with dried flowers glued with the words 'Flowers from the Holy Land' and a WW2 photograph of the bust of a man in uniform with a cap..1) Red hard covered book called 'The English Lakes' by W.T. Palmer.
.2) Woven silk bookmark with white (now cream) and yellow background and red, purple, green and yellow detail and the start of Psalm 23 woven into the bookmark. Possibly made in the late nineteenth century.
.3) Small card with dried flowers glued with the words Flowers from the Holy Land
.4) WW2 photograph of the bust of a man in uniform with a cap.
.1) Inside front cover "E.S. Holmes Ascot"
.2) Woven into the bookmark - The Lord is my Shepard I shall not want, & T. Stevens, Coventry
.3) Printed on the front - Flowers from the Holy Land, Placed on the Holy Sepulchreholmes, ec holmes, ascot, religious, religion, bookmark, english lakes, w.t. palmer, chatham-holmes collection, flowers from the the holy land, stevengraph