A handbook on the history and manufacture of embroidery and lace, by Ernest Lefébure and translated and enlarged with notes by Alan S. Cole. Part I covers embroidery from antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the age of Louis XIV to the nineteenth century, including techniques, stitches, ecclesiastical vestments and pattern books. Part II treats needlepoint laces (Venetian, Point de France, Alençon, Brussels) and bobbin or pillow laces (Valenciennes, Mechlin, Chantilly, blonde, guipure) by period and country. It is illustrated with 156 woodcuts and photographs of embroideries and lace specimens.

An English translation by Margaret Taylor Johnston of Ernest Lefébure's report on the lace section (Class 84) of the 1900 Paris International Exhibition retrospective collection, printed in 1912 in an edition of 1000 copies. It surveys French lace history in three chapters: before Colbert, from Colbert to the Revolution (the Points de France, Alençon and Argentan), and from the Revolution to the early 1900s. About 29 plates reproduce laces from private and museum collections, including flounces, rabats, a stomacher, a scarf and a bedspread, along with engravings and lace winders. A translator's preface and the exhibition committee list are included.