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I have a lady’s Barrel Racer with the princess back bow by Eddy Bros as pictured in the book.
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Books About 20th Century Men's Hats?
- Thread starter stevensonbruce
- Start date
I've been on the lookout for that for some time now, but for some reason I can't stream it where I live.
That is gorgeous, Jack. Yours comes out better looking I think than the one pictured in the book and not just because it isn't green! Very cool.
- Messages
- 19,449
Thanks Stefan. I have a collection of Wild West Show artifacts which overtime morphed to include prison rodeos & other famous rodeo competitions. I found this hat while on the hunt before the book came out. Never seen another one in person but I always think of the green as more of a turquoise green.
I made a translation of the French book “MANUEL COMPLET DES FABRICANS DE CHAPEAUX EN TOUS GENRES” by Julia de Fontenelle. It can be found for free on the Gutenberg Project site in its original French, because it first appeared in print in 1830.
Very interesting read if a bit fragmented. Before we go any further; the name on the cover is a bit misleading, because the author’s full name is Jean-Sébastien-Eugène Julia De Fontenelle, so very much a "he" and not a "she" as I thought at first. Professor of Chemistry, pharmacist and chemist (1780-1842).
What is interesting about the book is that it perfectly describes a period in which huge advancements were made in hat manufacturing. Inventions and advancements are listed in basting, forming, carding, fulling and dying. Given his background there is a lot of attention to the chemistry part of it.
For a bit of context: in 1830 the French revolution was only thirty years ago, which ended in 1799. The author may have seen the beheading of Robespierre in 1794.
A few highlights are worth mentioning. Quite a bit of attention is given to the base materials; wools and furs. Where the animals come from, which time of the year, what race, health of the animal: all of it mattered and it could vary per animal. The raw material was paramount for the quality of the final product.
For those of you wondering and dabble in hatmaking themselves: cats are a viable species for feltmaking! The author states: “We have passed over in silence a host of furs, such as cat fur, etc., which are endowed with varying degrees of beauty and are very suitable for making hats; their rarity, their special application to other types of manufacture or various uses, exempt us from listing them, let alone describing them.”
The silk top hat was very much up and coming and were apparently made in various colours: “The manufacture of silk hats has opened the door to a new branch of industry and reduced the consumption of felt hats. These silk hats are remarkable for their lightness, the richness of their color, their brilliance, the elegance of their shape, and above all for their low price.”
And:
“Silk hats are remarkable for their beautiful colors, their shine, their elegance, and their beauty. The black ones, in particular, offer a shine that seems far superior to that of felt hats. Like the latter, they can easily be given any desired shape; but over felts, they have the precious advantage of being lighter, just as long-lasting, more pleasing in appearance 48, and much lower in price. Silk hats were in use for a long time in Spain before they became known in France.”
Beaver was expensive and was used for “gilding”, meaning adding a higher quality fur to a base made of lower quality fur. Even then silk top hats were much cheaper than felt top hats.
At the time there were approximately 1,180 felt hat factories in France, employing nearly 18,000 workers and generating revenues of approximately 20 million francs.
Shellac was not used yet exclusively for stiffening felts. Various gums and glues are mentioned, but apparently shellac was yet to be discovered as the best method for stiffening hats. It is mentioned as part of recipes, but not on its own.
Mercury nitrate solution was very much in use for secreting furs, even though people were well aware of the risks involved and the health issues it caused. The author states: “This solution would, however, be all the more important for this art, as it would lead experimenters to substitute some other salt or some other harmless substance, or one less dangerous than mercury nitrate.”
However, another way of treating the furs simply was not yet available that could give the same results.
About time something was posted in this thread again. And it's a good one if I say so myself. Going to need six posts for this. As an introduction: Steve @mayserwegener posted a very similar catalog on the lounge before that is part of the collection of the Gotisches Haus, Bad Homburg, Germany. His post can be found here:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/books-about-20th-century-mens-hats.107455/post-2913605
This one is the same but different. This was (re)issued for the introduction of the "Zenit" line of hats by GB Borsalino fu Lazzaro. We know the "zenit" desination was trademarked in 1910, so that dates this re-issue either 1910 or shortly after.
The Gotisches haus catalog has a few pages missing (page 4 and 14 of the hats). This one is complete and has more hats listed. Quite a few of the hats are re-numbered (and it looks like the old numbers were stamped over by hand). The last page of the photographic overview is different as well: the Bad Homburg catalog had a picture of the plant under construction. That picture is missing in this one.
I commented on Steve's posting that I could only dream of finding an object like this. Well, sometimes Ebay delivers and here we are.
Part 1
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/books-about-20th-century-mens-hats.107455/post-2913605
This one is the same but different. This was (re)issued for the introduction of the "Zenit" line of hats by GB Borsalino fu Lazzaro. We know the "zenit" desination was trademarked in 1910, so that dates this re-issue either 1910 or shortly after.
The Gotisches haus catalog has a few pages missing (page 4 and 14 of the hats). This one is complete and has more hats listed. Quite a few of the hats are re-numbered (and it looks like the old numbers were stamped over by hand). The last page of the photographic overview is different as well: the Bad Homburg catalog had a picture of the plant under construction. That picture is missing in this one.
I commented on Steve's posting that I could only dream of finding an object like this. Well, sometimes Ebay delivers and here we are.
Part 1
RossRYoung
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,080
- Location
- GR
Thank you for posting all these, great to have the clear scans!
Thank you, Ross.
Émile Huber et la peluche de soies (Édition Confluence)
Didier Hemmer
Gérard Saleron
360 pages
It has been a well established fact that modern toppers no longer have the same luster as they once had. The main cause, aside from the very limited demand for top hats, is that the silk plush once used for their production is no longer manufactured and hasn’t been for a long time. Modern top hats are felt hats made with hare hair, which is polished to at least approach the shine of the original product. This has some thinking it must be possible with our modern technology to recreate the silkplush as it was once produced and maybe also recreate top hats in the same manner. In order to do that we must know more about how the original silkplush was produced.
Unfortunately very little has been written about top hats and silk plush specifically, so I had high hopes when I found this book, which concentrates on what once was the largest manufacturer of silk plush in the world. Let’s have look on how I fared.
Émile Huber&Cie was located in Sarreguemines, its French name, or Saargemünd in the German language. You’d be forgiven not to be able to point it out on a map. It sits right on the French-German border in the Lorraine region of France more or less between Strassbourg and Luxembourg. Historically the region Alsace-Lorraine switched between France and Germany a few times.
The 19th century is period of massive changes in general and for the hat industry in particular. It is no coincidence that the big names in hatting all have their origins in the mid to late 19th century. It developed from a cottage industry and small scale artisanal profession to large scale industrial manufacturing in just a few decades. The upcoming bourgeoisie with its ambition for upward mobility was both a driving force and a growing market for luxury goods like the top hat. Progress in science offered big opportunities. Émile Huber was more or less the embodiment of all these changes.
The book is far more about the man than it is about the technical side of the product, as is more often the case with these books. The books on Battersby, Lock&Co and Borsalino have the same focus on the manufacturers rather than the manufacturing.
There are some observations to make though, but those will be posted in the Toppers Unite thread. This book is in French, if that wasn't obvious already, and this time I did not make a full translation. I still might in the future, but I don't have plans to do that right now. This is very specialized and only for those who are interested in every niche of the hatting world.
Didier Hemmer
Gérard Saleron
360 pages
It has been a well established fact that modern toppers no longer have the same luster as they once had. The main cause, aside from the very limited demand for top hats, is that the silk plush once used for their production is no longer manufactured and hasn’t been for a long time. Modern top hats are felt hats made with hare hair, which is polished to at least approach the shine of the original product. This has some thinking it must be possible with our modern technology to recreate the silkplush as it was once produced and maybe also recreate top hats in the same manner. In order to do that we must know more about how the original silkplush was produced.
Unfortunately very little has been written about top hats and silk plush specifically, so I had high hopes when I found this book, which concentrates on what once was the largest manufacturer of silk plush in the world. Let’s have look on how I fared.
Émile Huber&Cie was located in Sarreguemines, its French name, or Saargemünd in the German language. You’d be forgiven not to be able to point it out on a map. It sits right on the French-German border in the Lorraine region of France more or less between Strassbourg and Luxembourg. Historically the region Alsace-Lorraine switched between France and Germany a few times.
The 19th century is period of massive changes in general and for the hat industry in particular. It is no coincidence that the big names in hatting all have their origins in the mid to late 19th century. It developed from a cottage industry and small scale artisanal profession to large scale industrial manufacturing in just a few decades. The upcoming bourgeoisie with its ambition for upward mobility was both a driving force and a growing market for luxury goods like the top hat. Progress in science offered big opportunities. Émile Huber was more or less the embodiment of all these changes.
The book is far more about the man than it is about the technical side of the product, as is more often the case with these books. The books on Battersby, Lock&Co and Borsalino have the same focus on the manufacturers rather than the manufacturing.
There are some observations to make though, but those will be posted in the Toppers Unite thread. This book is in French, if that wasn't obvious already, and this time I did not make a full translation. I still might in the future, but I don't have plans to do that right now. This is very specialized and only for those who are interested in every niche of the hatting world.
The Hatted Professor
Familiar Face
- Messages
- 88
This is the book that the president of Stetson contracted me for last year to document their archived hats. I didn’t do any writing for it, and I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t speak to what information it has in it. It is more of a prestige coffee table book, hence the price. Their VP told me today he’s sending me a copy when it comes out, so I’ll post a review then. Here’s the publisher’s link: https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847875726/
That looks very promising. For those of us in Europe: Amazon Germany has it listed for pre-order, ready for delivery from september 16th.
Stetson American Icon
The hat that won the west
Publisher : Rizzoli
Publication date : September 16, 2025
Print length : 320 pages
Well, if you haven’t bought one already, you might want to hold off until Christmas. This is a big book and a heavy one and If you do decide to put one on your coffee table you may want to check if that’s sturdy enough to hold it. But who is it for? That’s a bit of a tough question to be honest as it seems to hold the middle ground between a GQ editiorial and a Stetson catalog, not a reference and history book. For hat afficionados like the members here? Not really anything new there for us and it sure could have used Brad's @The Hatted Professor knowledge about the subject. A good number of pictures and lots of images of old ads and such, but more of current celebs wearing a Stetson. Does it hold anything special dug out from the vaults and archives that would get us exited? Alas, no.
For a casual reader interested in hats or fashion in general? Maybe, but the $100 pricetag isn’t casual at all. Or $125 if you want the one in a slipcase.
What’s more troubling though is that there are a good deal of inaccuracies to be found. The “Kennedy didn’t wear a hat at his inauguration” is repeated again. Wrong! LBJ Johnson is shown prominently as a Stetson wearer. Wrong again (he was a Resistol man). O, and that (let's be kind here) fanciful story about JB Stetson producing a hat while travelling to entertain his companions and selling it for five dollar gold piece is repeated again as well. So it’s a bit disappointing that the high production values, and it really is a beautifully produced book, didn’t extend to it’s contents. And I was so hoping for the Stetson equivalent of the Tonak book (posted earlier in this thread).
A shame really, because a vanity project like this for Stetson, which must have cost a pretty penny to produce, could have been great had they taken the opportunity the present the reader with some real meat on the bones and not a string of celebrities posing in a Stetson. As it is you’ll find yourself leafing through it quite quickly; Stetson history for the TikTok generation.
Do I regret buying this book? Reading the bit above you’d think so, but no, I’m not. Again, it’s a gorgeous book to look at and there are several pictures in there, which you can’t find collected in other publications. So nice to browse through in a spare few minutes, but it could have been so much better.
The hat that won the west
Publisher : Rizzoli
Publication date : September 16, 2025
Print length : 320 pages
Well, if you haven’t bought one already, you might want to hold off until Christmas. This is a big book and a heavy one and If you do decide to put one on your coffee table you may want to check if that’s sturdy enough to hold it. But who is it for? That’s a bit of a tough question to be honest as it seems to hold the middle ground between a GQ editiorial and a Stetson catalog, not a reference and history book. For hat afficionados like the members here? Not really anything new there for us and it sure could have used Brad's @The Hatted Professor knowledge about the subject. A good number of pictures and lots of images of old ads and such, but more of current celebs wearing a Stetson. Does it hold anything special dug out from the vaults and archives that would get us exited? Alas, no.
For a casual reader interested in hats or fashion in general? Maybe, but the $100 pricetag isn’t casual at all. Or $125 if you want the one in a slipcase.
What’s more troubling though is that there are a good deal of inaccuracies to be found. The “Kennedy didn’t wear a hat at his inauguration” is repeated again. Wrong! LBJ Johnson is shown prominently as a Stetson wearer. Wrong again (he was a Resistol man). O, and that (let's be kind here) fanciful story about JB Stetson producing a hat while travelling to entertain his companions and selling it for five dollar gold piece is repeated again as well. So it’s a bit disappointing that the high production values, and it really is a beautifully produced book, didn’t extend to it’s contents. And I was so hoping for the Stetson equivalent of the Tonak book (posted earlier in this thread).
A shame really, because a vanity project like this for Stetson, which must have cost a pretty penny to produce, could have been great had they taken the opportunity the present the reader with some real meat on the bones and not a string of celebrities posing in a Stetson. As it is you’ll find yourself leafing through it quite quickly; Stetson history for the TikTok generation.
Do I regret buying this book? Reading the bit above you’d think so, but no, I’m not. Again, it’s a gorgeous book to look at and there are several pictures in there, which you can’t find collected in other publications. So nice to browse through in a spare few minutes, but it could have been so much better.
RossRYoung
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,080
- Location
- GR
My sentiments exactly, steur. Excitement fizzled pretty quickly. Will hold onto it though for my visitors that don’t know anything about hats and the lifestyle.
RBH
Bartender
- Messages
- 15,382
Brad did help with information. He is Thanked in the acknowledgements.
https://scontent-dfw5-1.**.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/559522695_24956129654017851_3999617459359807313_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg_tt6&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_eui2=AeHnAI6-AZBSv1U7dRpodI_Bl8yam-dJFEiXzJqb50kUSMVXGuHJnIoUiAa8YKFme80&_nc_ohc=j9Lb1UMqFRcQ7kNvwE6-YYp&_nc_oc=AdkF7inz8Bje0j35oM5TpszqUD-r__aoQgoOFboSwz_v2VO41hLf46QUyQO7K9XHMgR48OX4k6AH_icUFs_hV2_r&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.**&_nc_gid=_lqagJiIsesevRr8mLHWfQ&oh=00_Afc6EPONWogaFCxC2yPWbW7tocFQXCnlScezFGjzl4Olbg&oe=68FA0B76
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