Men’s Fashion Plates from Mahan’s Report for 1843. (2)

Men’s Fashion Plates from Mahan’s Report for 1843. (2)
Two lithographs, each 19 x 23 5/8 inches.  By the 1840s, ambitious tailors in the United States were just making clothes, but marketing their expertise not only in tailoring, but as fashion forecasters.  They published not only tailoring manuals, but also periodicals, such as Philadelphia tailor Francis Mahan (c. 1790-1871), who published Mahan’s Protractor and Proof Systems of Garment Cutting, a semi-annual periodical that not only contained pattern diagrams and instruction for cutting, but also fold-out lithograph prints showing figures in the newest fashions, with short descriptive essays on the dress within the introduction to each issue.  These two, folding lithograph posters were enclosed, respectively, in Number 16: Spring and Summer Reports for 1843 and Number 17: Fall and Winter Reports for 1843 & 44.  Both were lithographed by Thomas Sinclair from original drawings by J. French. A tailor utilizing Mahan’s system or at least subscribing to his publication could then hang the most recent poster in their windows, showing that he had access to the most current fashion and cutting advice.  Photocopied keys to the illustrated figures, some of them celebrities of the era, accompany the original prints. The lithographs were originally issued folded, but that have been flattened by a paper conservator and edge splits have been mended with Japanese tissue.