A Treatise on Hat-Making and Felting / Including a Full Exposition of the Singular Properties of Fur, Wool, and Hair

BY JOHN THOMSON, A PRACTICAL HATTER.
PHILADELPHIA: HENRY CAREY BAIRD, INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHER, 406 Walnut Street.
LONDON: E. & F. N. SPON, 48 Charing Cross.
1868.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by HENRY CAREY BAIRD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PHILADELPHIA: COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET.
It is conceded as an axiom, that theory and practice, in the pursuit of any object, are in their natures essentially different and distinct. But at the same time they long for a mutual understanding each to confirm the assertions of the other, the consummation of all practical results being the mutual embrace and perfect reconciliation of these two attributes.
The writer of these pages, being a practical hatter, desires to describe intelligibly his calling, dispensing with all technical terms, at the same time conscious of being liable to receive an unfair criticism from his brother tradesmen, although perfectly innocent on their part, resulting from the prejudices engendered by the many would-be secrets that pertain to the different work-shops, together with their various modes and methods of working, all of which most generally are but trifles merely to gain a name.
The practice of a trade without a knowledge of the why and the wherefore of certain usages is a sad defect in any workman, but more especially in certain trades: Hatting being one of those which depends upon second causes for its proficiency, we venture here an explanation with perfect confidence, hoping that the fraternity of hatters will be indulgent, and that they may profit by an experience of many years in the trade, and that for one error or omission in the writing of these sheets they will find compensation in the new ideas that will spring from their perusal, which may be an incentive to further improvements in the business resulting beneficially to all.