Produced by Chuck Greif, deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: Pl. 1.] THE BOOK OF THE FEET: A HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES, With Illustrations OF THE FASHIONS OF THE EGYPTIANS, HEBREWS, PERSIANS, GREEKS, AND ROMANS, AND THE PREVAILING STYLE THROUGHOUT EUROPE, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, DOWN TO THE PRESENT PERIOD; ALSO, HINTS TO LAST-MAKERS, AND REMEDIES FOR CORNS, ETC. BY J. SPARKES HALL, Patent-Elastic-Boot Maker to her Majesty the Queen, the Queen Dowager, and the Queen of the Belgians. FROM THE SECOND LONDON EDITION, WITH A HISTORY OF BOOTS AND SHOES IN THE UNITED STATES, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT SHOEMAKERS, AND CRISPIN ANECDOTES. NEW YORK: WILLIAM H. GRAHAM, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS, J. S. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL. 1847. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, BY J. S. REDFIELD, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern District of New York. STEREOTYPED BY REDFIELD & SAVAGE, 13 Chambers Street, N. Y. AMERICAN PREFACE. The work embraced in the following pages, which has been received with great favor in England, in the fashionable circles, as well as by the trade, the publisher has great confidence will prove attractive and interesting to the American public. “I have given,” says Mr. Hall, in his preface to the English edition, “the result of my experience, derived from an intimate practical acquaintance with this department of trade for twenty years, and have endeavored to correct much that was bad in form and material, and I trust have not only found fault in many instances with past and present fashions, but have also enforced and provided the remedy. The illustrations of the ancient fashions are all taken from the highest authorities, and I believe may be relied on as historical.” In addition to the matter in the second London edition, we have subjoined a History of Boots and Shoes in the United States, showing the changes of fashion in this indispensable article of dress; also, numerous biographical sketches of individuals, who, having learned the art of shoemaking, have afterward distinguished themselves by their genius, talents, or worth, and occupied eminent stations among their fellow-men.