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'The Textile Manufactures and the Costumes of The People of India’ by Dr. John Forbes Watson.
Dr. John Forbes Watson was a Reporter for the Products of India at the India Museum in London (V&A). In 1858 he was appointed as Director of the Indian Museum and Reporter on the Products of India at the Indian Museum. Among his research and documentation projects, was the famous work, ‘The Textile Manufactures and the Costumes of The People of India’.The aim of this project was to catalogue and show British manufacturers a wide variety of popular Indian fabrics so that they could be reproduced in the textile looms at Lancashire and exported to India at a cheaper rate than handmade fabric pieces manufactured locally in India.
Ironically, this 18 volume catalogue, is the only documentation for many Indian textile traditions that have since died.