18th Century Embroidered Pocketbooks
Both men and women carried pocketbooks in the 18th century. (I’ve noticed that women’s pocketbooks are more likely to be in the envelope-style layout, where men’s pocketbooks can be in either the envelope-folded style or a multiple-pocket style.) Another page focuses on leather pocketbooks and letter-cases.
A housewife is a similar accessory with more pockets, and often needle-leaves or a pincushion. They sometimes used similar designs; for example, compare pocketbooks National Museum of American History 277125, Chester County NP10, LACMA M.79.29, and this auctioned pocketbook with housewife Winterthur 2011.0045.
Pocketbooks could carry currency, documents, and other valuable items. See the Proceedings of the Old Bailey for descriptions of English pocketbooks and their contents.
Additional Resources
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Plain & Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850
Device for an Embroider’d Pocket Book
The Lady’s Magazine, 1787
This pattern most closely resembles the painted pocketbooks and “other styles” linked below.
Pocketbooks embroidered in flame stitch, Irish stitch, or bargello
Winterthur 1958.1759 is classified as a sampler, but it looks like an incomplete & abandoned pocketbook project; the embroiderer has stitched the date band at the top, and started by embroidering the black outlines of the overall pattern before beginning to fill in the open space, before giving up and stitching an alphabet into the empty leftover space.
Undated 18th century pocketbooks in the Concord Museum: T805, T817, T819, T822
Skinner Auction 3417T, Lot 2102, a flamestitched wallet, America, 18th century, “stitched in shades of yellow, red, green, and blue in a bold flame pattern, each side with two compartments lined in green linen”
New England Auctions Oct 10, 2024, Lot 48, a New England flamestitched pocketbook (with high-res close-up photos)
Skinner Auctions 3278M, Lot 129, a small flame-stitch wallet
Skinner Auctions 3360T, Lot 85, a flame-stitch pocketbook with a zig-zag pattern
MFA 41.661, New England
Winterthur 1978.0181, North America
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.10 (“ELIZABETH FITZ”)
Pocketbook (“Nathan Somerby his”)
P4A D9791326, America
P4A D9808326 (“Moses Hale”), Pennsylvania, c. 1725-1789
Historic New England 1991.1417, c. 1740-1790
Winterthur 1961.1356 (“Ephraim Pierce”), c. 1740-1790
Winterthur 2002.0001.003, North America, c. 1740-1790
Winterthur 1958.1584 (“A”), North America, c. 1740-1790
Winterthur 1956.0038.130 (“NATHANIEL • BOND”), North America, c. 1740-1790
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-18, America, mid-18th century
RISD 56.137.63, American, c. 1750
Skinner Auction 2669M, Lot 24 (“Joseph Winslow”), Massachusetts, c. 1750
Chester County History Center NP31 (“ANTHONY MORRIS” on the silver clasp), c. 1750-1763
Concord Museum T820 (“A M”), c. 1750-1770
Winterthur 1963.0085 (“ELINOR BROWN 1753”), Delaware
Pocketbook, England, 1757
MFA 41.251, New England, 1750-1800
MFA 41.779, New England, 1750-1800
MFA 42.645, New England, 1750-1800
MFA 44.688, Rhode Island, 1750-1800
MFA 51.1990, New England, 1750-1800
Skinner Auction 2295, Lot 6, America, mid to late 18th century
Historic New England 1991.1418 (“SAMUEL ELLIOT”), made by by Mrs. Rebecca Cones for her brother, Samuel Elliot, c. 1750-1800
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.3, c. 1750-1800
P4A C249476, America, c. 1750-1800
Historic New England 1946.288 (“SL”), c. 1751-1799
Historic New England 1917.191 (“E S”), c. 1751-1799
Man’s flamepoint wallet, England, initialed “S.M.” and dated 1757
Winterthur 1961.1623 (“RG 1759”), America
LACMA M.79.29 made by Elizabeth Parker (“EP / 1763”)
National Museum of American History 277125 (“HP 1763”)
Philadelphia Art Museum 1933-47-4 (“George Gray 1760”), Philadelphia
Pocketbook from a New Hampshire family (“BR”), c. 1760
Winterthur 1970.0237 (“H M / 1760”), Chester, Pennsylvania
Antiques Roadshow: a flame stitch wallet, with a black woman with a teapot and a black man with a tray, probably made in Massachusetts c. 1760-1780
Winterthur 1958.1752 (“M W”), North America, c. 1760-1785
DAR 746, (“LOVISA◇AYAR”), 1760-1790
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.27, c. 1760-1800; features four scalloped leaves of dark olive green wool with napped surface which hold pins and needles
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.26 (“E.P.”), c. 1760-1800
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.14 (“ANN • DAVIS • 1762”), Massachusetts
Chester County History Center NP6 (“Iesse_ / Zane 1762”)
Chester County History Center NP5 (“17WX62”)
Chester County History Center NP4 (“William Parker 1762”)
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-21, America, 1762
Skinner Auction 3417T, Lot 2099, “stitched in shades of yellow, green, and brown, with divided interior lined in pink linen”
Skinner Auction 2640B, Lot 58 (“GILES • RVSSELL • 1763 • A • E ”)
Skinner Auction 3500T, Lot 1121 (“DR / 1763”)
Skinner Auction 2482, Lot 565 (“MARY • STORRS • May 1764”), America
Winterthur 1968.0162 (“IAMES • GRAHAM AGED 16 1765”), New York
Davies Apr 14 2022, Lot 303, an 18th century flame stitch purse (note indicating it was made for J.M. Bruton in 1765)
LACMA M.79.253.28 (“Abigail Alden”), America, 1765
MFA 37.1175, New England, c. 1766
Skinner Auction 2922M, Lot 14 (“Ieremiah • Pearson • 1766 •”), possibly Newbury, Massachusetts
Winterthur 1993.0045 (“Iane • Eakin • her book 1766”), New Castle, Delaware
P4A D9789534 (“David Stephen 1768”), America
Chester County History Center NP10 (“I.I / 1768”), made for John Jones of Lenape, Pennsylvania
Chester County History Center NP10 (“I I / 1768”)
Skinner Auctions 3360T, Lot 84 (“WG1769”) with a diamond and cross pattern
Chester County History Center NP15 (“MG / 1770”) with a diamond and cross pattern
Winterthur 1958.2232 (“PETER • S • 1770”), America
DAR 3632, made by Elizabeth Lord Eliot of Lyme, Connecticut, c. 1770
Winterthur 1978.0182 (“SARAH • MERRITT • 1770 / DANIEL • MERRITT • 1770”), North America
Winterthur 1978.0186 (“R R 1770”), North America
Winterthur 1955.0082 (“WHEN THIS YOU SE REMEMBER ME M HOLDER SLOCU HIS POCKETBOOK 1770”), made by Abigail Slocum, Bristol, Massachusetts
Concord Museum T1144, c. 1770-1799
Colonial Williamsburg 1991-493, c. 1770-1815
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.23, “A flamestitch or bargello canvaswork purse or pocketbook with two interior pockets. The purse is lined with twilled red wool. One red tape attached and there is the end of green tape at the center front. The purse is bound all around with red wool tape. The embroidery is worked on double mesh canvas in a simple swag motif of polychrome ribs worked in single ply worsted.” Rhode Island, c. 1770-1815
P4A D9713435 (“ELIZABETH BALDWIN” and “HB” and “1771”)
Colonial Williamsburg 1950-268 (“Seth Drew / 1771”)
Skinner Auction 2494, Lot 18 (“TIMOTHY MANN 1771”), Massachusetts
DAR 745, unfinished fragment of a flamestitched pocketbook, dated 1773
DAR 961 (“RICHARD ALSOP 1773 M.A”), Connecticut
Pocketbook (“WILLIAM • KINGSLY • 1773”), Connecticut
DAR 961, pocketbook made by Mary Wright Alsop for her husband (“RICHARD ALSOP 1773 M.A”), Connecticut
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-24 (“JOSEPH S(?) 1773”), United States
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries Nov 11 2023, Lot 2070 (“ MOODY x MORSE / HIS BOOK 1773”), pocketbook of a Minuteman from Newbury, Massachusetts, “having gusseted expanding sides and four pink cotton partitions. 9 1/2" x 8" opened flat”
Chester County History Center NP17 (“R ⚬ B / 17 74”)
Monmouth County Historical Association 301 (“Mary Polhemus 1774”)
Chester County History Center NP18 (“R D / 1774”)
Skinner Auction 3417T, Lot 2098 (“ANN MARSHALL ❖ 1774”), “stitched in shades of red, blue, yellow, and green in a diamond geometric pattern, name embroidered below the flap, two internal compartments lined with pink linen”
Wallet owned by Caspar Yeakel, 1774, Hereford, Berks County (“CASPER 1774 / IAECKEL 1774”
Embroidered pocketbook owned by Harvard undergraduate Fisher Ames (“Fisher Ames 1774”)
Skinner Auction 2786B, Lot 31 (“Iohn Stevens junr. November 19 • 1774”), possibly Perth Amboy, New Jersey
A flamestitch wallet, c. 1775, in Fitting & Proper; “A wallet worked in multicolor flamestitch on linen anvas, lined with olive green linen and bound with green wool twill tape”
P4A D9736574 (“Joseph Davis 1775”), Pennsylvania
Winterthur 1976.0177 (“JOHN SMEDLEY 1775”), Chester, Pennsyvlania
Winterthur 1958.2730 (“Iohn Williamson 1775”), America
P4A D9721192 (“JOHN • PAW • LING • 1775”), Pennsylvania
DAR 2017.7 (“AMERICA • LIBERTY / I-ИEEDHAM”), Massachusetts, 1775-1781
A flame stitch pocketbook once owned by Joseph Robinson of Bridgewater, Massachusetts; “This is made of worsted thread over unbleached linen & bound in olive green worsted twill tape. It’s currently on display at the North Bridge Visitor Center at Minute Man National Historic Site.”
DAR 75.192, Pennsylvania, 1750-1790
Huntington L2015.41.68 (“Elisabeth Fellows 1776”)
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-19, America, mid-late 18th century
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-23, America, mid-late 18th century
LACMA M.83.216.63, Captain John Jones, c. 1775-1785
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.11 (“H.C.”), c. 1775-1800
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.1, “A canvaswork purse or pocketbook of an envelope style with pockets on either side of the fold. It has a pink cambric lining and red wool binding. The embroidery is a flamestitch in yellow, rose, red, lavender, blue and green.” New England, c. 1775-1800
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.12 (“E.S.”), c. 1775-1800
Met 1980.592.1, Britain, 1775-1800
Glee Krueger P221, “Wool needlework double-folding wallet opening to two pockets on each side. Worked in 17 colors, from salmon to forest green, using Irish stitch in a variation pattern, edged with green binding tape. Interior lined with pale pink silk taffeta.”
Met 2009.300.1835 (made by Deborah Hill for Grandmother Schenck), fourth quarter of the 18th century
National Museum of American History 277125 (“• ESTHER TUKE YORK •”)
Skinner Auction 2460, Lot 487, a pair of canvaswork wallets, one in a diamond-variation pattern and the other in a zig-zag pattern, America, late 18th century
Skinner Auction 2667T, Lot 708, double folding pocketbook in a zigzag diamond pattern, America, late 18th century
Skinner Auction 3500T, Lot 1020, zigzag pattern, probably New England, late 18th century
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.2, late 18th century
Flamestitch wallet in Fitting & Proper (“Thomas Mercier / 17 / 76”); “A wallet worked in multicolor flamestitch on linen canvas, lined with brown linen and bound with red wool twill tape”
Winterthur 1958.1523 (“SAMUEL + EARL 1777”), North America
Winterthur 1965.2087 (“ENOCH • LONG / MARCH • 25 • 1777”), North America
Chester County History Center NP23 (“I • T / 1777”)
MFA 53.2287 (“WILLIAMS” “CUSHINGS 1779”), New England
Chester County History Center NP25 (“R * B / 1778”)
Brunk Auctions 5 Dec 2020, Lot 593, New England, c. 1780; stylized carnation pattern with green linen lining and edged with blue silk tape. Also Lot 594, a man’s pocket wallet lined in green wool and edged in green wool tape.
MFA 47.1019, New England, 1780
P4A A076993, belonging to Caleb Haines, Pennsylvania, c. 1780-1790
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.4, “An envelope-type canvaswork purse or pocketbook with two lined pockets and a tie closure. The purse body features flamestitch embroidery in cream, yellow, red, green, blue, purple, pink, and black on linen canvas.” c. 1780-1800
Winterthur 1961.0506 (“Samuel + Bettle / 1782”), America”
Winterthur 1965.2086 (“17 • H • L • 84”), which probably belonged to Hope Lippincott, America
MFA 42.163, Providence, before 1786
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-22, America, 1786
MFA 1976.663 (“NOVEMBER 3 1787”), New England
Chester County History Center NP27 (“ANN ◆ DUGLESS ◆ 1 ◆ 7 ◆ 87”)
Russum’s Furniture Auctioneers Oct 9 2022, Lot 591, flamestitched pocketbook dated 1789 with engraved silver catch, Pensylvania
Skinner Auction 2255, Lot 204 (“BEN / IAMIN / PEIR / CE” and “17 / 90”), America
Met 2009.300.1782, c. 1790-1810
Philadelphia Art Museum 1909-109, America, 1792
Skinner Auction 3500T, Lot 1122, New England (“Adam Churnſide / His Pocket Book 1792”)
MFA 41.660 (“THIS WAS WROUGHT BY ME RUTH TWITCHELL : IN THE YEAR 1793 &TC :”), New England
Skinner Auction 2669M, Lot 25 (“William B. Property 1794”)
Bruneau & Co. Sept 22 2018, Lot 353, American flamestitched pocketbook, New England, c. 1795
Chester County History Center 1993.777 (“1799 / Elizabeth Walton”)
P4A D9807956 (“EBENR. WARD”), Salem, Massachusetts
18th century flame stitch wallet, with several good detail photos
Skinner Auction 2918T, Lot 1396, a flame-stitch pocketbook with a zig-zag pattern, probably New England, 18th century
Skinner Auction 2918T, Lot 1535, a flame-stitch pocketbook, 18th/19th century
Skinner Auction 3417T, Lot 2305, a needlecase fashioned from a flamestitched pocketbook (“ELIZABETH BURNS / HER POCKET BOOK”)
Colonial Williamsburg 2006-155,1 (“D A” … “M A / 1807”), possibly made in Richmond, Virginia
Crewelwork pocketbooks
P4A B193571 (“ZS”), America, c. 1740-1790
SPNEA 1991.1419, c. 1740-1790
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.13 (“B.S. 1762” and “Set the seal upon my heart/Ecclesia, John XI”), crewel embroidery with floral motifs and inscribed scrolls
Massachusetts Historical Society 0002, pocketbook belonging to Benjamin Stuart, 1753; “The pocketbook features a brightly hued pastoral view with vining flowers, bird, and goats. Several large blossoms catch the eye. The wool thread is worked on a very basic homespun plain-weave linen substrate. The wool threads have remained vivid, as has the dazzling yellow-gold Chinese silk lining.” (“FOR BEИIAMIИ 1753 STVART”)
DAR 2279, used by John Orr in New Hampshire, 1750-1780
Skinner Auction 3500T, Lot 1123, floral embroidery (“AMOS COLE”)
MFA 35.726, Roumanian embroidery (“L.H.” [possibly Lemuel Hayward] “1768”), Boston
Skinner Auction 2255, Lot 203, a crewelwork fish-scale design
P4A A066252, a crewelwork fish-scale design
Other canvaswork pocketbooks, including cross stitch and/or tent stitch
MFA 64.2019, tent stitch, New England, 1725-1775
Winterthur 1953.0060, rice stitch, North America, c. 1725-1800
P4A A066589, tent stitch, made by Mercy Waterman (initials “MW” appear in two places), with depiction of the Newport Colony House, Rhode Island, c. 1727-1811
Brunk Auction Nov 10 2012, Lot 401, 18th century pocketbook in diamond-patterned wool canvaswork
Pocketbook, tent stitch and reverse tent stitch and cross stitch, Philadelphia (?), c. 1740-1790
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.28, cross stitch, made by Mary Gardner (“M.G. 1755”), Massachusetts
Skinner Auction 3360T, Lot 83 (“IOSHUA STODDARD”), tent stitch, made for Captain Joshua Stoddard c. 1760, probably Connecticut
Skinner Auction 2669M, Lot 26 (“MxB 1768”), brick stitch, probably New England
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.29, cross stitch figures on a tent stitch background, c. 1780-1790
Philadelphia Art Museum 2002-209-8, tent stitch, America, 1765
Winterthur 1978.0123 (“Iohn Greir / May The 8 1778”), cross stitch, made by Jane Grier of Norristown, Pennsylvania
Pocketbook, tent stitch, c. 1790
Pocketbooks embroidered in queen stitch/rococo stitch
Winterthur 1955.0003.009, embroidered by Mary Wright Alsop of Middletown, Connecticut, in 1758
DAR 3657, made in New York c. 1770-1810
Winterthur 1955.0003.004 (“Mary • Alsop • 1774”), Middletown, Connecticut
MFA 40.572, unfinished pocketbook, America, late 18th century
Met 2009.300.1744, with a pattern of strawberries within diamonds, America, fourth quarter of the 18th century
National Museum of American History 115408, “Embroidered card case made in England circa 1780, using silk queen stitch embroidery in a diamond strawberry pattern on linen canvas”
Monmouth County Historical Association 304, a silk-embroidered pocketbook with a pattern of strawberries in diamonds (“HANNAH CRAWFORD / 1785”)
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.15 (“Fanny Bliſs 1785”) “An envelope-style purse or pocketbook with four inner pockets. The outside is a coarse linen worked in a large and small diamond design with silk thread. There is a dark brown or black cross outline and shades of tan, yellow, blue, green, and white inside the diamonds (may once have been pink, rose, several shades of blue, etc.). The stitches appear to be straight up-and-down, apparently one of the Florentine patterns. The binding on the body and pockets is narrow green silk ribbon. The same shade of green silk is used for the inner lining and pockets, with tops and flaps scalloped in points.” Springfield, Massachusetts
Old Sturbridge Village 64.7.16 (“Mary Bliſs Æ 11”) “The purse has all silk embroidery in a diamond pattern worked on canvas and then mounted on cardboard. The embroidery is in shades of pink, green, mustard, blue, and white with a black outline … The purse is lined and bound with green China silk, with ties of same,” Springfield, Massachusetts, c. 1788
Skinner Auction 2922M, Lot 13, a needlework pocketbook and pincushion embroidered with strawberries on a green background, America, late 18th century
DAR 5257, an unfinished queen-stitched fragment probably intended for a pocketbook, attributed to Easther Chambers in 1791
Winterthur 1964.0811 (“Henry Row 1794”), United States
MFA 30.115, with initials 'AR' and 'SA', 18th-19th century
MFA 29.1036, an embroidery fragment with strawberries and zig-zags, roughly the shape of a pocketbook, America, 18th-19th century
Smithsonian Textile Collection (”Alexander Alexad”) stitched by Maria Connor Alexander
DAR 87.84 (“SAMUEL NIXON 1800”), North Carolina
Pocketbooks in sablé beadwork pocketbooks
MFA 43.2343, France, c. 1715
MFA 43.2341, France, 1715-1790
MFA 43.2345, France, 1725-1775
MFA 43.2344, France, 1725-1775
Painted pocketbooks
V&A 1937-1899, embroidered silk pocketbook with watercolor-painted oval silk panels, France, c. 1750
V&A T.143-1961, cream silk painted with Dutch-inspired landscapes in a grisaille technique, France, 1750s
Cooper Hewitt 1923-22-79, painted silk pocketbook made in France
NMAH T14911.000, an uncut embroidered panel for a pocketbook with a painted vignette on a central medallion, France
MFA 43.1117, white silk embroidered in silk, with painted details, France or England, 1780-1800
Cooper Hewitt 1962-56-26-b, an unfinished painted silk panel for a pocketbook, late 18th century France
Other styles of pocketbooks
Concord Museum T806, “Brown or wine-colored cloth of a fine serge weave over a foundation of buckram. Embroidered with flower sprays, one on the front and one on the flap in shades of pink, green leaves; on the back a spray with 2 blossoms and green leaves. Around the outside, a border of flowers and running vine.”
Concord Museum T818, a combination of a bargello background pattern with crewel-worked floral sprigs
Manchester 1929.306, France; “Woven in blue silk and silver thread. Pattern coventional Renaissance ornament.” (Compare to Cooper Hewitt 1962-55-6, 1962-55-7, 1962-55-8, 1962-55-10, 1962-55-11, all from the 17th century)
Massachusetts Historical Society 1966, a pocketbook belonging to a member of the Hale family, silk fabric embroidered with sprigs in silk thread
Cooper Hewitt 1931-41-6, “Pocketbook with metal thread embroidery on green damask ground … embroidered in padded couching stitches”
Cooper Hewitt 1971-50-112, made in France or Spain; “White silk plain weave embroidered with flower and leaf design. Bag edged with woven silk and flat metal tape.”
Philadelphia Art Museum 1930-30-26, embroidery on wool damask, United States, 18th century
MFA 43.1110, tapestry-woven design with angels flanking arms of Pope Benedict XIII, Italy, 1724-1730
MFA 43.1112, silk with fruit and floral design in satin stitch and laid & couched work in silk threads , France or England, 1725-1775
Winterthur 1958.2052, North America, c. 1740-1780
V&A CIRC.238-1926, silk embroidered with floral designs in colored silks, Britain, c. 1750-1775
Colonial Williamsburg 1990-3, embroidered with colored silks, silver gilt threads, bullion, and plate, made in Constantinople in 1749
MFA 43.1118, silk embroidered with silk and metallic threads in a floral design, made in Constantinople for the European market, 1755
P4A D9791252 (“LG”), floral design, Philadelphia, c. 1760
Crazy-quilt pocketbook, c. 1760
Colonial Williamsburg 1952-341, pocketbook with gold clasp, fitted with implements, made in England, c. 1760-1780; “Envelope pocketbook of ivory silk satin quilted with chain stitches in a diamond pattern with meandering vines across top and bottom folds. Pocketbook is fastened with gold, stone, and enamel clasps on the outside and on the interior shaped flap. The exterior clasp has three clear stones; the interior clasp had male and female profile heads in classical manner. The interior is lined with carnation pink silk, plain-woven. Two interior compartments, one with shaped flap and clasp. A gusseted compartment has slots for holding an ivory tablet consisting of two pivoting leaves, a comb, a lead holder with gold cap and coral-colored stone seal end, and two knives.”
MFA 43.1114, taffeta embroidered with a love-poem in silk, France, 1775-1800
MFA 43.1116, white silk satin with silk and metal-thread embroidery, inscribed “SOU / VENIR,” France or England, 1775-1800
Met C.I.59.30.2, embroidered silk, France, late 18th century
Meg Andrews 6557, a French pocketbook belonging to Mary Hope Wallace, 1780s; “front with silver clasp chased with a fleur de lys, the ground very finely tapestry woven with a Chinese style pagoda and buildings to one side of the clasp, a tree to the other, the background in gold basketweave effect, the back with a bridge, river and trees, the narrow base with two silver coloured studs and a woven geometric pattern, the inside opens to reveal silk satin lining, the note book of thick hand made paper sheets edged with gold, many with pencilled hand written English, the front page with Rue St Anne, No 78 Paris. The inner pages have a poem and more writing, some in French, a pocket behind the paper”
Cooper Hewitt 1938-5-1, “Pocketbook of cream-colored silk taffeta embroidered with verse and flowering vine in pink, green and tan silk”
MFA 43.1115, white silk embroidered in silk, France, 1780-1795
MFA 43.1113, blue silk with appliquéd embroidered medallions, France, late 18th century
Manchester 1929.305, France; “Woven in silver and gold thread and coloured silks. Pattern; flowers, scrollwork and moths.”
RISD 1988.082.12, French, late 18th century