Pocketbook

Description

Mary Alsop was left a wealthy widow with a large family when her husband died in 1776. A skilled needlewoman, in later life she knit and embroidered pocketbooks and reticules (drawstring bags) as gifts for her children and grandchildren. On many she inscribed her name, her age at the time of making, and the name of the recipient. Clearly her grandchildren did not visit as often as she would have liked, as she wrote to one grandson: "I send you a Purse which I knit for you sometime ago, hoping to have the satisfaction of giving it to you myself. Receive it as a small testimony of my affection." This particular pocketbook was worked in the sophisticated and time-consuming Queen's stitch.