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                                 GLOVE
                                  LORE

                             [Illustration]

                         THE PARIS GLOVE STORE

                           S. W. LAIRD & CO.

                            390 MAIN STREET

                                BUFFALO


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                          _Copyrighted 1897._

                          OTIS H. KEAN & CO.,
                        Compilers and Publishers
                        Advertising Literature,
                             Buffalo, N. Y.


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[Illustration]




                            _Introductory._


In presenting our Brochure on fall and winter gloves, it occurred to us
that a few facts bearing upon the historical phase of the subject would
not be amiss, and, though necessarily brief, we trust may prove
interesting to our readers.

Our display of gloves for the present season shows the same
characteristic excellence which has always been our aim, and a range of
style and variety calculated to meet the requirements of the most
exacting buyer.

We feel that in point of prices there is no need to make mention, since
a liberal patronage is the truest indication of our policy in this
regard, and we can promise in the future the same “sterling worth” we
have given in the past.

Attention is also called to our corset department, in the belief, that
for the lady who has not yet worn the Fascia Corset there awaits a real
revelation, the extent of which she can appreciate, only when once
encircled by the graceful curves of this, The Queen of all corsets.


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                       _The Birth of the Glove._


[Illustration]


           _“’Tis as I should entreat you, wear your glove.”_

                              —_Othello_.

The first pair of gloves of which we have any record was the covering of
skins which Jacob wore upon his hands to deceive his blind father, and
it is a singular fact, that these hand-coverings, then used for
deception and treachery, came in time to be a pledge of faith, a token
of fidelity all over the world. The glove is unique in its universal use
to symbolize good faith, from the Oriental custom of giving the
purchaser a glove at the transfer of property, to its use as a love
favor and a challenge.

Some authorities say that the use of gloves as a protection to the hands
was known to the cave-dwellers. However this may be, it certainly was to
the Romans and Greeks.


[Illustration]


In the Norman period we find gloves worn only by men, and even then they
were considered the appendages of the rich and great. They were an
important factor on all ceremonial occasions, and were consequently very
ornate and of rare material and workmanship, and many of them decorated
with precious stones. The gloves of bishops were of silk and linen,
richly embroidered, and those of monarchs were white with broad, pointed
cuff. The presentation of the royal gloves at the coronation ceremony is
a custom which still prevails, for in the records of Victoria’s
coronation is the Duke of Norfolk’s petition to present the Queen’s
coronation gloves.

While we of to-day use gloves only as a protection and an ornament, in
the intervening centuries they had a significance aside from this.
Churchmen wore gloves as a sign of purity; judges, as a token of the
integrity of their office; men pledged their honor by their gloves; and
perhaps we may be pardoned for saying that this custom still survives
with us, since our gloves are sold “on honor.”


[Illustration:
A Walking Glove.
  Two-Clasp Piqué Glacé.
  Two-Toned Stitching.
  $1.00 to $2.00.]


[Illustration]


[Illustration:
Gentleman’s Walking Glove.
  English Cape Leather,
  One Clasp at the Wrist,
  Oak Tan and Red Shades are correct.
  $1.00 to $2.25.]


[Illustration:
English Cape Leather
  Riding and Coaching Glove.
  In Havana-Browns and Red Shades.
  $1.00 to $2.00.]


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                          _Old Royal Gloves._


Some of the gloves worn by royal personages still exist. We illustrate a
glove worn by England’s maiden queen, Elizabeth, and a very ornate
affair it is—of fine white leather, profusely embroidered in gold
thread, and having a yellow fringe and lined with drab silk. Elizabeth’s
hands were very beautiful, we are told, the charm of which she was wont
to display by the repeated removal of her gloves. DuMaurier writes how
he had heard from his father “that, having been sent to her, at every
audience he had with her majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a
hundred times to display her hands, which, indeed, were