A Man and his Dog

[PetePaolillo]

I Love this photo. His clothing is quite unique. The two types of fur collars?? are interesting. He also appears to be possibly Russian or from another Eastern European nation based soley on the attire. I do not know if this would be common dress in the United States at the time. The photo credit says Illinois.


J. M. Adams, Photographer, Elgin, Illinois

Taken c. 1862 (+/- 2 years)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/piedmont_fossil/2218143918/in/set-72157612790306217/

There are some other great pics on th above link

[gilham]

Re: A Man and his Dog

Good looking dog.

The fur collar dose not appear to be part of his overcoat.

[Hank Trent]

Re: A Man and his Dog

Like Russell Stanley, I think the fur collar is some kind of separate neck warmer.

Other than the fur collar thingy, that's just about how I dress for cold weather reenacting. The fur hat is very typical; you see it all over in Currier & Ives sleighing images.

I wonder if this is a written example of the separate fur collar?

"...I wrapped myself in an overcoat, tied a fur collar about my neck, and cautiously and slowly ventured out, body-warped with the cold, to take the waiting cab."

That's in a short story set in New York City in December, published in 1843.

Not so sure he's Russian or eastern European; I think we just wore a lot more fur back then.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[PetePaolillo]

Re: A Man and his Dog

Like Russell Stanley, I think the fur collar is some kind of separate neck warmer.

Other than the fur collar thingy, that's just about how I dress for cold weather reenacting. The fur hat is very typical; you see it all over in Currier & Ives sleighing images.

I wonder if this is a written example of the separate fur collar?

"...I wrapped myself in an overcoat, tied a fur collar about my neck, and cautiously and slowly ventured out, body-warped with the cold, to take the waiting cab."

That's in a short story set in New York City in December, published in 1843.

Not so sure he's Russian or eastern European; I think we just wore a lot more fur back then.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

Mr. Trent...Thanks so much for bringing some info to the table on this one...I knew that you might have something. Great stuff....I often forget how fur and the fur trapping trade were big business then and not looked upon negatively as it is today by some...Would this Gentleman be considered a man of wealth based on his dress? Or were fur garments not necessarily considered elegant in this time period?

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: A Man and his Dog

Apparently the question came up at the time as well, and the fellow might just be a German. See: http://books.google.com/books?id=F7E...uff%22&f=false

Notes and Queries, London, 1857, pp. 322-323:

MUFFS WORN BY GENTLEMEN.

(Vol. v., p. 560.; Vol. vi., pp. 209.281.)

It would seem, from the passage in The Tatler, that Don Saltero's muff was a peculiarity: nor do I recollect any notice of muffs having been general amongst Englishmen. I think there are one or two instances in Hogarth of men with muffs; but, as I have not his works at hand, I cannot be positive, and I rather think that they were peculiarities. Does not Horace Walpole talk somewhere of his muff? and are there not prints of even the time of George III., in which men are exhibited in muffs ? They were common in France up to the Revolution; and I remember, in the winter of 1789, some of the emigrants wearing muffs in this country. C.

Pepys records, in his Diary, 30th November, 1662, that

"This day I first did wear a muffe, being my wife's last year's, muffe ; and now I have bought her a new one, this serves me very well."

...

This fashion was doubtless imported from France or Holland by the Merry Monarch. In a ballad describing the fair upon the river Thames, during the great frost of 1683-4, mention is made of

"A spark of the bar, with his cane and Irish muff."

They were usually slung round the neck by a silk riband, as may be seen in the print of a beau in Tempesta's Cries of London.

There is a curious portrait of Admiral Byng (who was somewhat of a macaroni), in which he is drawn with his arms folded in a muff! Poor Byng, it will be remembered, was murdered in 1757.

Edward F. Rimbault.

When I was at the College School, Gloucester, in 1793-4, I frequently saw Dr. Josiah Tucker, the then Dean, walk up the nave to attend service, with his hands in a small muff in cold weather. He was then very old and infirm. P. H. F.

Muffs were worn by gentlemen in 1683. See Fairholt's Costume in England, p. 351., in which is reproduced an engraving of about that date of a figure wearing one, and reference is made to a ballad of that year mentioning —

"A spark of the bar, with his cane and his muff."

Horace Walpole, writing to George Montague in 1764, says:

"I send you a decent smallish muff, that you may put in your pocket, and it costs but fourteen shillings."

Cheverells,

About the year 1841 I was at a railway station (Ronde) near Northampton, when one of the royal dukes drove up; I think it was Cambridge. Lord Fitzroy Somerset was, however, with him, and two men-servants, Germans, I believe. One of these men was herculean in stature and proportion : he wore a small fur muff.

Query, Is the custom of gentlemen wearing muffs common on the Continent ? An answer to this question may assist to settle the first Query.

R. R.

I usually think of muffs as ladies' hand warmers, but the discussion above hints that it might refer to a neck warmer too -- not just in being "slung round the neck," but in being worn rather than carried. As to the fur, I'm sure Hank's right; good furs were luxury items then as now, but there were a lot of inferior and second-hand items in the market as well.

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: A Man and his Dog

might check into the origin of the term "muffler" to describe a "scarf"

[Hank Trent]

Re: A Man and his Dog

They were usually slung round the neck by a silk riband, as may be seen in the print of a beau in Tempesta's Cries of London.

Hmm... I pictured that as a way of keeping the muff handy when not in use, such as when you needed to take your hands out to do something, like we might sling a camera around our neck on a strap. Though I could see it also describing a fur muff tied around the neck, now that you mention it.

Would this Gentleman be considered a man of wealth based on his dress? Or were fur garments not necessarily considered elegant in this time period?

I'd like to see more input on that from others. My tentative feeling is that fur itself wasn't necessarily elegant, but more of a practical way to deal with unheated sleighs/carriages and generally draftier homes. So it could be as much a practical garment as a fashion statement, if you lived in a cold climate. Kind of like snow suits today. Yuppy winter vacationers buy them from upscale catalogs in fashionable styles and colors, while rednecks buy similar but cheaper ones if they have outdoor jobs in the winter. They both keep warm, but one is a fashion statement too.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Mgreer]

Re: A Man and his Dog

Pete you must have posted this for me! lol The dig is the the ancestor to the Border Collie. Being that these dogs were not native to the US it might be a Western European photo. That being said I have seen plenty of photos of dogs in the War that resemble this one.

Marvin

[PetePaolillo]

Re: A Man and his Dog

Pete you must have posted this for me! lol The dig is the the ancestor to the Border Collie. Being that these dogs were not native to the US it might be a Western European photo. That being said I have seen plenty of photos of dogs in the War that resemble this one.

Marvin

Marvin...I was waiting for you to post....It is a good looking dog.Never thought about the breeds of that time though...Great info......I love seeing Maggie at events...She does an awesome Fir-Dog impression:D

[BobbyHughes]

Re: A Man and his Dog

I have a hat almost like that! very nice beaver pelt, with ear flaps and a peak very similar to the one shown.. hand sewn too.... awsome pic.. and gorgeous dog.... bout as pretty as my blue tick..