author

Clinton G. Gilroy

Best known for richly detailed 19th-century books on weaving and textile history, this little-documented writer moved comfortably between practical craft knowledge and reflective religious writing. His surviving works suggest a curious mind interested both in how things were made and in how people made meaning of their lives.

1 Audiobook

The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous Substances; Including Observations on Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving.

The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous Substances; Including Observations on Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving.

by Clinton G. Gilroy

About the author

Clinton G. Gilroy was a 19th-century American author whose recorded work spans both industrial arts and devotional writing. Surviving catalog and library records link him to The Art of Weaving, by Hand and by Power (1844), The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous Substances (1845), and Inner Life; or, The Joys of My Father's House (1865).

His textile books show a strong interest in the history and practice of making cloth, covering weaving, spinning, dyeing, and the wider place of fiber crafts in daily life and industry. They read as works meant not only for general readers but also for manufacturers and others interested in the technical side of weaving.

Very little dependable biographical detail about Gilroy appears to be widely available today, so it is safest to let the books speak for him. Taken together, they present an author with an unusual range: practical, historical, and attentive to the moral and spiritual concerns of his era.