The Wardle Family and Its Circle: Textile Production in the Arts and Crafts Era

Abstract

Brenda M. King’s The Wardle Family and Its Circle: Textile Production in the Arts and Crafts Era is a welcome addition to literature already available on textile history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Told through the accomplishments of the extended Wardle family, the book charts personal and family successes in both business and personal affairs. These often impressive accomplishments, seemingly so vital to the achievements of some of the most notorious Arts and Crafts designers, have until now been overlooked. This text, which unifies a family history within a much broader crafting context, is hugely significant in establishing one family’s influence on textile design and manufacturing at this time. Admirers of the Arts and Crafts movement will no doubt be aware of works produced by William Morris, Walter Crane, and Arthur Lasenby Liberty. Perhaps they will also know of the companies that surrounded their success. Yet, what...