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| Singer and the Sewing Machine |
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| Reissued by Kodansha America 1996 |
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| The sewing machine was invented, or so he claimed,
by Isaac Merritt Singer. In 1905 and 1906, long after his death, his eldest
son, William Singer, retailed what he knew of Isaac's life in a series
of letters to his half-sister Winnaretta, by then Princesse de Polignac.
Being thirty-one years older than Winnaretta, William had had considerably
more acquaintance with their father. He was, however, rather reticent.
'It would deeply interest you to know all his wonderfull and very unusual
history, but it better not be on paper. When we meet I will tell you if
you wish,' he wrote. |
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| So begins the story of Isaac Singer and his
wonderful sewing machine, his several wives, many mistresses and twenty-four
children. Beginning on the semi-wild frontier of upstate New York, Singer's
story ends in a Torquay palace, taking in en route his canary-yellow coach
with nursery compartment and orchestra, the invention of hire purchase
and interchangeable parts, high(ish) life in New York and Paris, and Isadora
Duncan … |
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| 'Marvelous … That such a spectacular
complex of history, mechanics, and human comedy should have gone so long
without a chronicler is astonishing … A treasure' - Eve Auchincloss,
Washington Post |
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| 'Thanks to Ruth Brandon's brilliant book, surely the best
by far to be written … about any capitalist enterpreneur or his
enterprises, [Singer's] wonderful history is on paper at last.' Alistair
Forbes, Spectator |
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