Handbags: The Making of a Museum

Fantastic book well researched

Judith Clark has done a magnificent job in acquiring and curating the collection for the Simone Handbag Museum in Seoul, South Korea. This book captures the end result, which is a collection that any purse collector or museum would admire. The beauty of this book also lies in its production values, which are superb. Pictures of each purse are presented in chronological order and the photography is excellent. But beyond that, it takes you to places that other purse books do not. For example, the inside of the purse, close-ups of purse clasps, tassels and frames. Amy de la Haye has captioned each picture with intriguing nuggets of information, which may have a historic, social and/or fashion context. The author, and contributing authors, have an extensive background in textiles and it is evident in the quality of information. At the very back of the book is a section on terminology pertaining to purses. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in antique, vintage and contemporary purses. A big "thank you" to Mr. Kenny Park for recognizing the cultural and historic importance of the handbag, and for being the guiding force behind the inception of the museum.

I give 5 stars for the book’s content but 1 star for the quality of the book itself. Poorly put together, damaged corners on manny pages, a poor cutting process, pages do not lie flat. Too difficult to return now, due to stay at home policy.

good book

Every member of the Antique Purse Collectors Society who has bought this book absolutely loves it. A very detailed review of it by Paula Higgins is on our site.