Fashioned Texts and Painted Books: Nineteenth-Century French Fan Poetry

[The] book undoubtedly contributes profound insight to the conversation surrounding nineteenth-century aesthetics in ways that might be applied to other objects of the time; yet, more than this, [Edgington's] analyses attending to both the plastic and literary aspects of the fan redeem the object from its 'popular' status and elevate the fan to an item of key importance within late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century poetics. . . . Readers will close the volume wholly persuaded of the fan's importance to our understanding of nineteenth century culture, print history, and poetics.--Modern Language Notes

Those interested in the less-studied poetry of Mallarme and Claudel will find close analyses of poems and sustained readings. Those concerned with the representation and history of fashion will find material concerning the fan's place within those fields. Scholars of material culture, and, in particular, the luxury book will find useful analogies in the discussions of luxury 'poeticized' fan. The ambition to work at the crossroads of literature, art, fashion, and material culture is laudable, and the fan, so richly significant in the nineteenth century, merits the attention Edgington gives it.--Nineteenth-Century French Studies

Fashioned Text & Painted Books, offers a nuanced look at the special relationship between fashion, art, and literature and provides an interdisciplinary link between the three. Edgington . . . has produced the perfect book for the fashion historian who wants to think outside the box.--The Journal of Dress History