Ladies' old-fashioned shoes

Description

Ossianic controversy by Rev. John M'Pherson is a historical-literary study written in the late 19th century. The book likely explores the debate over the authenticity and cultural origins of the so‑called Ossian poems and their place in Scottish and European intellectual history. The content presented is an antiquarian showcase of women’s footwear, opening with a preface and eleven illustrated plates that document notable shoes by material, construction, and provenance—ranging from a plain black satin shoe attributed to Mary Queen of Scots to richly embroidered silks and brocades owned by aristocratic wearers, with details on buckles, ribbon ties, lavish linings, towering heels, and sharply pointed, sometimes wadded, toes. An extensive appendix broadens the scope: brief notes on period fashions and museum holdings in Edinburgh lead into R. Heath’s sweeping survey of European and global footwear, tracing French and Italian styles from the Valois through the Empire, the cyclical return of peaked toes and high heels, and parallels with Eastern forms; it also considers social meanings and technologies through sabots, pattens (including Venetian chopines), moccasins, ecclesiastical shoes, Egyptian and Indian sandals, and ornate bath pattens, concluding with observations on shoes depicted in portraits and on Westminster Abbey wax figures. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• Women's shoes -- History
• Women's shoes -- History -- Pictorial works
• GT