Album Holker - The Holker Album Échantillons Textiles Et Espionnage Industriel Au Xviiie Siècle

During his exile in France, British manufacturer John Holker (1719-1786) brought back samples of fabrics produced in England on an industrial espionage mission for Louis XV. Holker collected these samples in a manuscript, now kept in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The album is known to contain some of the first samples of denim.

For the first time, this book reproduces the Holker album in facsimile. The handwritten technical description that accompanies each sample, describing the quality of the fabrics, price, dimensions and manufacturing processes, is also transcribed.

French and English academics, curators and specialists study the album from various angles: the globalisation of trade, the slave trade, industrial espionage between France and England and their economic rivalry, etc. The book bears witness to the close ties between France and the United Kingdom over the centuries and is a reference publication for the history of textiles.