The secrets of the reverend Maister Alexis of Piemont by Girolamo Ruscelli. OL25228326M Translated from French into English by William Ward Available for online reading, this was published in 1595. It's a compendium of remedies, distillations, perfumes, dyes and much more. To read online through the Open Library, click here.
The Plictho of Gioanventura Rosetti by Sidney M. Edelstein; Hector C. Borghetty. ASIN: B001B3KDKM This seems to be the manual that fiber enthusiasts refer back to the most frequently.
Pliny's Natural History in Thirty-Seven Books Translated by Dr Philemon Holland A rather thorough cmopendium from Rome, this particular translation is noted as being translated in 1601. It includes a vast amount of information on animals, plants and other scientific information of the time. There is a viewable pdf on Open Library
Original Treatises on the Arts of Painting by Mary Merrifield. Contains several references to pigments from the 15th century manuscripts of Jehan le Beague. To read online in Google Books, click here.
Books on Leather Work
Leather Craftsmanship by John William Waterer. ISBN 0713510315 Wonderful resource with facts and pictures showing the evolution of leather products, technique and skill.
Leather and Craftsmanship by John W. Waterer. ASIN B000UTEQS8 Another wonderful resource on evolution of leather working.
Leatherworking Handbook: A Practical Illustrated Sourcebook of Techniques and Projects by Valerie Michael. ISBN 1844034747 A good how-to guide on leather working basics. Most of the patterns and projects are post period, but the techniques involved are transcendant.
Books on Scotish History
The World of the Galloglass: Kings, Warlords and Warriors in Ireland and Scotland, 1200-1600 by Sean Duffy. ISBN 1851829466 Informative book on the world of the Galloglass, the mercenaries that were located through Scotland and Ireland through the Middle Ages. Wonderful distinctions are made within about life before the kilt.
Celtic Warriors: 400BC-160AD by Tim Newark. ISBN 0713720433 Excellent (and simple to read) summary on early period Celts.
Books on Costuming
The Book of Costume by Millia Davenport. ISBN 0517037165 By far the most plates in one resource I have ever witnessed. Chronological and regional information is included. Absolutely invaluable!
Elizabethan Costuming (For The Years 1550 - 1580) by Janet Winter. ISBN 0963022008 Fantastic how-to guide on constructing garb worn within the different class structures in England during the Elizabethan era.
What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume from Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century for Every Level of Society by Melissa Leventon. ISBN 0312383215 Lovely summary with lots of images included. I really liked that the way items are broken down, they include use of accessories.
What People Wore: 1,800 Illustrations from Ancient Times to the Early Twentieth Century by Douglas Gorsline. ISBN 0486281620 Though a lot of the information in this book carried post-period, I found that the sketches were quite helpful in getting basic information together.
Pictorial Encyclopedia of Historic Costume by Karl Rohrbach. ISBN 0486461424 Extremely broad ranged group of garb through the ages. This would serve more as an overview, but there are some good ideas to get started in researching clothing.
Books on Design Patterns
The Book of Kells: Selected Plates in Full Color by Blanche Cirker, Blumette Cirker. ISBN 0486243451 Basis for my study of knotwork and its significance in period art.
Islamic Designs for Artists and Craftspeople by Eva Wilson. ISBN 0-486-25819-X This is the book that I patterned my design on the Islamic six board box from.
Medieval Designs by Gregory Mirow. ISBN 0486297918 This had a lot of nice patterns and designs that had plenty of room for artistic interpretation.
Books on Drawing
Drawing The Head & Figure by Jack Hamm. ISBN 0-399-50791-4 I used this source for proportioning my doll's limbs correctly. It has great information on drawing and sketching the human form, and is a great resource for anyone that has questions about drawing people in general.
Drawing Comics The Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema. ISBN 0-671-22548-0 I have used this book in the past to sketch out some of my favorite comic characters. In this instance, I used it to make sure that my doll was not proportioned to characters such as "The Thing", and remained more to the form of a real person. It also has some great notes on drawing forms, but is not as realistic as Hamm's book.
Books on Dolls
Dolls and Doll Making by Benbow, Dunlop, and Luckin. Library of Congress Card # 68-20354 This book is mainly about making filled dolls of cloth, paper mache, and other modern materials. It did prove to be a good reference point for sculpting the form, and I made the face of my doll similar to the look of one of theirs.
Dolls and Puppets by Max von Boehn. Library of Congress Card # 65-25496 This is my primary source of historical reference for the doll I made. It contains invaluable materials for doll and puppet history and construction. I highly recommend further reading from this if you have an interest in dolls and doll making!
Books on Pirates
Life Among The Pirates by Stuart A. Kallen. ISBN 1-56006-393-9 Discusses facts and myths about pirates who sailed and plundered on the seas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.
Other Websites
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Wonderful source material to study, there are several collections online. You can also search by medium!
The British Museum Another excellent source for material to study with their searchable online collections.
The Tower of London You have to search a bit, but there are also source materials to study within their online collections.
"Chinese Cricket Culture" by Jin, Xing-Bao From the cricket box project. Quite informative, and as Jin, Xing-Bao is at the Shanghai Institute of Entomology, I found that it was informative in both the ways of China's people and the insects that they noted.
Belgian Travel Network This site has a great story of a male drunken doll (Op-signoorke) from the Netherlands.
Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna The museum's website has different photos of historical carvings and other artwork. I found a page about an animated doll from the mid-late 16th century that I used as a reference point for my articulation.
"The Nuremberg Toy" by Helmut Schwarz The paper by Schwarz was a wonderful source of information about the doll production of Nuremberg, and other toys that the region made and sold during and after period.
"The Ottoman Sultans and Caliphs, 1290-1924 AD" The bulk of my research (when pertaining to the historical documentation of dates and whatnot) came from Dr. Kelley L. Ross's website on historical events in the Ottoman Empire.
"The Medieval Chest" by Master Dafydd ap Gwystl Excellent information from the Spring University of Atlantia AS XXIX! Master Dafydd goes into detail on different types of chest in period and has some excellent sketches to outline how the designs differ.
