Explanatory
Some seven years ago the author, then connected with a clothing manufacturing concern as advertising manager, wrote a compact little “Clothes Dictionary” which was presented to the trade with the compliments of the publishers. All definitions were short and to the point, many were humorous, and all were within a necessarily limited scope of interest. There had never been anything like it and the book “caught on” immediately, with the result that the author thereupon went to work seriously to compile a larger, fuller, more comprehensiv dictionary along similar lines.
The present book is the result. Six years or more (as time permitted) have been spent in reading, listening and correspondence for new terms and new meanings.
Naturally, as all first compilations must inevitably be, the book is, frankly, lacking many definitions, particularly of terms in popular use long ago, and doubtless, many of today. Wherefore no claim is made that the book is complete, but it is believed that it is reasonably so—or usably so.
In compilation the main purpose has been to make the book comprehensiv (covering about everything of men’s wear, use and interest) and, contrary to most dictionaries, encyclopedias and the like, interesting.
Altho the title specifies “men’s wear”, the book broadly covers many items of women’s wear (as many fabrics, etc., are common to both sexes), and except that items of strictly women’s wear have been omitted, might have been entitled “A Dictionary of Apparel”, and should, therefore, be of quite as much interest to the straight drygoods merchant as to the modern clothier.
The definitions are not tiresomely long—not any of them—but all are of sufficient length to cover essentials and are accurate and reliable; and, altho the dictionary is somewhat encyclopedic, it is not intended that it shall take the place of any encyclopedia. A feature of its forerunner that may be appreciated is that many of the less important and more obvious terms are dismist quite briefly or else freely or facetiously handled—enough so to induce one to search the pages for these alone.
Obviously, no hard and fast rules could be set to govern the work. Each term had to be considered in itself and explained so clearly, without waste (or skimping) of words, as to be understandable without the aid of pictures. That there has been no necessity for illustrations and that the book has been otherwise brightened without them the author considers somewhat of an achievment.
In a word, it has been the aim of the author to make simply a handy reference book, “popular” rather than learned, helping one over transient needs, leaving the wearying technical dissertations to text books, encyclopedias, etc. If this has been accomplisht, there is great cause for satisfaction to