
The Book of the Feet (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A History of Boots and ShoesBy Joseph Sparkes HallLength4h 6m
About this audiobook
The Book of the Feet is a compact but richly informed Victorian study of footwear as material culture, tracing boots, shoes, sandals, and coverings of the foot from antiquity to modern Europe. Combining antiquarian research, practical observation, and lively descriptive prose, Hall treats footwear not as a trivial accessory but as evidence of climate, class, craft, fashion, and social ritual. Its style belongs to the nineteenth-century tradition of learned popular histories, where scholarship, illustration, and professional expertise meet. Joseph Sparkes Hall was a distinguished London bootmaker, remembered especially for his association with Queen Victoria and for helping popularize the elastic-sided ankle boot. His authority came not only from reading but from daily contact with leather, fit, form, and fashionable demand. The book reflects the outlook of a craftsman-intellectual: someone who understood shoes as engineered objects, commercial goods, and symbols of changing manners. This volume is recommended to readers interested in fashion history, Victorian craftsmanship, design studies, or the cultural meanings of everyday objects. It offers more than a curiosity cabinet of old shoes; it reveals how dress records civilization itself, one step at a time.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
Audiobook details
GenreOther
Length4 hrs 6 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 2, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
15SAMUEL DREW.
2CHAPTER I. ON THE MOST ANCIENT COVERINGS FOR THE FEET.
16ROBERT BLOOMFIELD.
3CHAPTER II. THE HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES IN ENGLAND.
17NATHANIEL BLOOMFIELD.
4CHAPTER III. ON THE MORE MODERN FORMS OF FOREIGN BOOTS AND SHOES.
18WILLIAM GIFFORD.
5CHAPTER IV. COMMENCEMENT OF THE TRADE.
19NOAH WORCESTER, D. D.
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6CHAPTER V. THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN FEET, ETC.
20JAMES LACKINGTON,
7CHAPTER VI. THE POETRY OF THE FEET, ETC.
21JOSEPH PENDRELL.
8CHILDREN’S BOOTS AND SHOES.
22THOMAS HOLCROFT.
9GENTLEMEN’S BOOTS AND SHOES.
23REV. WILLIAM CAREY, D. D.
10CHAPTER VII. HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES IN THE UNITED STATES.
24GEORGE FOX.
11CHAPTER VIII. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT SHOEMAKERS.
25REV. JAMES NICHOL.
12ROGER SHERMAN.
26REV. WILLIAM HUNTINGTON.
13DANIEL SHEFFEY.
27CHAPTER IX. CRISPIN ANECDOTES, ETC.
14GIDEON LEE.
28Memorable Quotes