Inspiring the Generations: The Knitting
Reference Library Words by Linda Newington.
The Knitting Reference Library (KRL) is part of the University of Southampton Library, and is located at Winchester School of Art, a campus of the University. The KRL was launched at the first In the loop conference in 2008 and is founded on the bibliographic collections of Richard Rutt, Montse Stanley and Jane Waller. Each collector possessed a serious passion for knitting, their individual approaches are illustrated through the resources they collected and established as an essential part of their working lives.
The library comprises of nearly 2000 books, 425 journal and magazine titles, an estimated 12,000 knitting patterns and hundreds of knitting pattern books. It includes many widely known classic books from the Victorian period through the decades of the twentieth century to the present day.
Richard Rutt and the history of hand knitting
Richard Rutt (1925-2011) once popularly known as the knitting bishop, was a scholar and knitter known for his classic book A history of hand knitting published by Batsford in 1987, it remains a key text on the subject.
I first met Richard Rutt at his home in Falmouth to discuss the generous donation of his library. Many return visits were made to discuss knitters and their books whenever I made a trip down to Cornwall. It was always a pleasure to meet with him and his wife Joan and to chat over tea and cake. I also saw many examples of his and Joan’s knitting including hats, gloves, cardigans, jumpers and coats.
A particular distinction and strength of his library is the range and number of Victorian knitting books which commenced publication in the 1830s. These are small books that include recipes, more akin to guidelines rather than the strict instructions of patterns, sometimes with illustrations in either black and white or hand coloured. They promoted knitting at this time through mass publication. They are interesting antecedents to the contemporary printed knitting pattern and the “how to knit” books of today. Rutt devotes a chapter to The Victorian age and the belle époque in his book providing context and information about a number of the lady authors. He also gives a check list of English knitting literature published before 1910 which lists these small works. He knitted a group of “pence jugs” from the Victorian patterns to test their accuracy and to learn the technique first-hand.
On the left: Examples of some of the vintage knitting patterns.
A further feature of his library is the back runs of magazines including Weldon’s, Stitchcraft, and Vogue Knitting.
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