Book collecting often arises as an adjunct to one's vocation or avocation, as we have pointed out in several previous posts (see., e.g., our posts of 29 April 2009 and 1 November 2009). One's own "work" often is another's "hobby" (and vice-versa), and sometimes what begins as work or hobby eventually becomes its opposite (book collecting, which sometimes becomes bookselling, being a pertinent example).
Knitting and crocheting, which for centuries fell decidedly on the vocation side of this spectrum, has become in many industrialized nations more of an avocation. And the hobby side of this spectrum appears, in not a few locales, to have become a bit snarky in recent years, if one may judge by the 736+ groups known collectively as Stitch n' Bitch.
The snarkiness is, of course, in good humor, as perhaps befits a vocation/avocation whose knitting component can be traced back to at least the 11th century CE (though there are no known surviving examples, knitting is believed to in fact date back even earlier). Although the best-known and most commonly collected needlework books are the various pattern books that have been published to guide one's work, the literature of needlework is much older and more diverse than most hobbyists realize. The title below, for example, dates from 1782 and depicts, in the copper engraving on the left, a woman "knitting with her older daughter on one side and her baby asleep in a cradle on the other:"
Even earlier titles are known, such as the 1726 work The advantage of employing the poor in useful labour, and mischief of idleness, or ill-judg'd business.... (where one learns that the schools for sewing, knitting, spinning, and bone-lace working shew us a method how to educate our youth of one sex to industry and profitable labour, as our charity-school does for the other sex; and would we improve upon those examples, we have a specimen how the rest of our poor may be maintain'd in a religious, honest and frugal manner, and be managed so as to contribute to their own support).
Just as many of today's needlework enthusiasts work to the accompaniment of something tuneful on their Ipod or similar device, so did enthusiasts of the 19th century (the music score below is from 1849):
Examples like the above help folks who collect needlework literature get some sense of how the transition from vocation to avocation has developed over the past few centuries, as do histories such as those depicted below:
On many collectors shelves you will find these sorts of titles supplemented by books that introduce the very young to needlework, as well as books that promote needlework as a "manly art" (knitting was in fact a popular pastime for, among others, shepherds and fishermen in centuries past):
Some folks prefer to collect titles that focus on needlework in a particular locale, while others prefer to focus on titles specific to particular needlework items:
And for every general overview of needlework that one encounters on the shelves of those that collect the literature of this vocation/avocation, one also likely will find a score or more titles devoted to specialized aspects of knitting and/or crocheting:
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