Victorian Shoes Journal — T. Watson Greig 1900 Ladies' Dress Shoes Plate VI Yellow Satin Ada Cavendish

In the closing years of the nineteenth century, Captain Thomas Watson Greig of Glencarse looked at his collection of antique ladies' dress shoes and saw something that most collectors prefer not to see: they were crumbling. The satin was fraying, the embroidery unravelling, the delicate heels softening with age. In 1900, he commissioned sixty-three hand-coloured aquatint plates — rendered with gold and silver inks to capture the sheen of satin and the glint of metallic embellishment — and published them as Ladies' Dress Shoes of the Nineteenth Century, one of the most refined documents of Victorian women's fashion ever produced.

This journal carries Plate VI across its full wraparound cover: three yellow satin dress shoes of the late nineteenth century, restored by LeBonJournal from the Artvee archive with a cleaned background, illuminated yellow tones, and a framed presentation. The first shoe — reportedly worn on stage by Miss Ada Cavendish, one of the most celebrated English actresses of the Victorian era — features a square toe and a round rosette of satin and silver braid with a mother-of-pearl centre. The second displays a pointed toe with silk embroidery and a crimson silk bow. The third, in softer straw, carries a restrained ribbon embellishment. Together, the three models document the decorative vocabulary of Victorian women's footwear at its most elegant — and the mirrored composition on the back cover completes the picture.

Product Details

• Format: Hardcover lined journal
• Pages: 150 perforated lined pages (75 sheets) for easy removal
• Binding: Casewrap sewn binding — lays flat, flexible for comfortable writing
• Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.5 inches
• Weight: Approximately 400g
• Cover: Matte laminated full-wrap print
• Illustration: T. Watson Greig, Ladies' Dress Shoes of the Nineteenth Century (1900), Plate VI — hand-coloured aquatint with gold and silver inks, restored by LeBonJournal

Perfect For

• Fashion historians, costume designers, and vintage shoe collectors
• Theatre enthusiasts and admirers of the Victorian stage inspired by Ada Cavendish
• Collectors of rare antiquarian publications and Victorian decorative arts
• Lovers of hand-coloured aquatint illustration and chromolithographic publishing
• Stylists, fashion students, and design researchers drawn to Victorian footwear history
• A distinctive gift for fashion lovers and Victorian history enthusiasts

The Story Behind the Plate

Why Greig commissioned 63 aquatint plates to save a crumbling collection, who Ada Cavendish was, and what three yellow satin shoes tell us about Victorian women's fashion — read the full story on our blog →