The Delineator (October 1885)

I purchased this Victorian era fashion magazine from a seller on eBay. The interior pages are very clean most of the edges are in good shape. Unfortunately I had some issues with the staples used to bind the magazine, and ended up pulling them out. Some of the pages stayed glued in to the spine but others were only connected by the staples. I'm not too worried about it though, since all the pages are individually in good and I have them packed away in order in an archival mylar sheath.

At October of 1885 this magazine falls squarely in the middle of the late bustle period of Victorian fashion. I'm not a huge bustle fan, but the smooth, clean lines and neat asymmetric closures of this period appeal to my desire for elegance balanced with simplicity.

I had a bit of a fight with the color correction in my scanner software (yes, again). I think I set it into the wrong mode, so it was auto balancing differently based on whether or not I included any of the white scanner lid in the margin of the page scan. As a result the colors and brightness of the pages were wildly mismatched. I've done my best to clean up the worst of it with by hand rebalancing the pictures' levels. Hopefully they're more representative of the actual pages now.

I spent about 6 hours scanning, resizing, and building this web page. I've managed to automate some of the image resizing using ImageMagick, which cut down on the effort required.

The thumbnails below link to the 150 dpi copies of the magazine pages. If you just want to read the magazine (rather than print it out) these copies should work just fine. I have 300 dpi versions of these images, which may be available at some point in the future when I find hosting that can handle the size of them again.

Download the individual pages:

• Front Cover, complete with butterflies, fancy lace and peacock feathers
  
• Inside cover with ads. for other fashion magazines
  
• Seasonable Styles: Prevailing and Incoming Fashions
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Toilette"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Toilette"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Toilette"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Toilette"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume" (totally awesome zig-zag ribbon trim)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Wrap"
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Toilette" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Polonaise" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Long Wrap" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Wrap" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and two different garments labeled "Ladies' Wrap" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Double-Breasted Coat" (front and back),
  and "Ladies' Coat" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Coat" (front and back),
  and "Ladies' Jacket" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Box-Plaited Jacket" (front and back),
  and "Ladies' Basque" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Basque" (front and back),
  and "Ladies' Basque" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Plaited Waist" (front and back),
  and "Ladies' Easy-Fitting Dressing-Sack" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Apron" (front and back),
  and "Ladies' Walking Skirt" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Walking Skirt" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Walking Skirt" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.
  and "Ladies' Over-Skirt" (front and back)
  
• Seasonable Styles cont.,
  "Ladies' Night-Dress, with Yoke Back" (front and back),
  and a note about "Special Rates for Package Patterns"
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls
  and "Misses' Coat" (really neat cord on front closure)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.
  and "Misses' Costume"
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.
  and "Misses' Toilette" (cool double breasted effect)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.
  and "Misses' Street Toilette"
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.
  and "Misses' Costume"
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Girls' Costume",
  and "Misses' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Girls' Costume",
  and "Misses' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Misses' Costume",
  and two outfits labeled "Girls' Costume" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Girls' Wrap",
  "Girls' Costume" (front and back),
  and "Girl's Dress" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Girls' Dress",
  and "Misses' Coat (Suitable for Seal-Skin, Etc.)" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Girls' Wrap" (front and back),
  "Misses' Coat" (front and back),
  and "Girls' Coat" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.,
  "Misses' Jacket" (front and back),
  "Misses' Hood" (front and back),
  and "Misses' Double-Breasted Basque" (front and back)
  
• Styles for Misses and Girls cont.
  and "Misses' Walking Skirt" (front and back)
  
• The end of Styles for Misses and Girls,
  "Misses' Walking Skirt" (front and back),
  and the beginning of Styles for Little Folks
  
• Styles for Little Folks cont.,
  "Child's First Short Cloak",
  and "Child's Coat"
  
• Styles for Little Folks cont.
  and two different outfits labeled "Child's Costume"
  
• Styles for Little Folks cont.,
  two different outfits labeled "Child's Costume" (front and back),
  and "Child's Dress"
  
• Styles for Little Folks cont.,
  "Child's First Short Cloak, with Cape" (front and back),
  "Child's Coat" (front and back),
  and "Child's House Jacket"
  
• Styles for Little Folks cont.,
  "Child's Apron" (front and back),
  "Infants' Pinning Blanket" (front and back),
  and a small note about the time needed to fufill pattern orders
  
• The Illustrated Miscellany section,
  starting with Hats and Bonnets;
  including
  "Ladies' Bonnet",
  "Ladies' Felt Hat",
  "Ladies' Evening Bonnet",
  "Ladies' Round Hat",
  and "Ladies' Walking Hat"
  
• The end of Hats and Bonnets,
  the beginning of Stylish Lingerie,
  "Ladies' Hat",
  "Ladies' Crepe-and-Velvet Bonnet",
  "Ladies' Felt Hat",
  and "Lace-and-Mull Fichu"
  
• The end of Stylish Lingerie,
  the beginning of Dressmaking at Home,
  "Lace-and-Mull Bow",
  "Finish for the Wrist and Throat",
  "Ladies' Collar",
  and "Etamine Chemisette"
  
• Dressmaking at Home cont.
  and illustrations of "Decorations for Skirt, Basque, Sleeve and Front-Gore"
  
• The end of Dressmaking at Home,
  the beginning of Styles for Gentlemen,
  "Combination Plaiting for Skirt Trimming",
  "Decoration and Drapery for the Front and Sides of a Skirt,
  "Becoming Garniture for a Dress-Body",
  and "Stylish Sleeve-Decoration"
  
• The end of Styles for Gentlemen,
  Artistic Needlework,
  the beginning of The Work-Table,
  and illustrations of "Trimming for Waist, Sleeve and Skirt, and Drapery for Front of Skirt"
  
• The end of The Work-Table,
  a special notice to subscribers,
  "Combination of Tucked Flounce and Narrow Ruffles for Skirt Trimming",
  "Finish for a Sleeve",
  "Ornamented Skirt Trimming",
  and "Zouave Decoration for a Dress-Body"
  
• Dress Materials,
  "Decorations for Front-Gore and Sleeve",
  "Combination Plaiting for Skirt Trimming",
  and "Trimming and Drapery for the Front of a Skirt"
  
• Dress Materials cont.,
  "Decorative Arrangement for Bodice Front",
  "Braid-and-Button-Trimmed Sleeve",
  "Foot Trimming and Applique Decorations for a Skirt",
  and "Fashionable Sleeve-Garniture"
  
• The end of Dress Materials,
  the beginning of Fashionable Trimmings,
  three different things labeled "Gentlemen's Fancy Night-Shirt",
  "Gentlemen's Knot Scarf",
  and "Gentlemen's Flat Scarf"
  
• Fashionable Trimmings cont.,
  "Hair Receiver",
  and "Fancy Basket"
  
• The end of Fashionable Trimmings,
  Special Rates for Packages of Patterns,
  "Decorative Strip for Boarders, Etc.",
  and "Crescent Pin-Cushion"
  
• Autumnal Millinery,
  "Decorated Placque",
  and "Sections for Petals of Paper Roses"
  
• Autumnal Millinery cont.,
  "Sunflower Pin-Cushion",
  and "Parasol Screen"
  
• Our Paris Letter
  and "Transparency for Fire-Place"
  
• The end of Our Paris Letter
  and a Special Notice to Subscribers
  
• Household Cookery
  including example menus for "Breakfast" and "Luncheon or Supper"
  
• Household Cookery cont.
  including example menus for "Dinner"
  
• The end of Household Cookery
  and the beginning of To Be Beautiful
  
• The end of To Be Beautiful
  and the beginning of The Art of Bread Making
  
• The end of The Art of Bread Making
  and the beginning of The Feast of the Rosebuds
  
• The end of The Feast of the Rosebuds
  and the beginning of The Jaunty Jacket
  
• The end of The Jaunty Jacket
  and the beginning of Rambles Among Books
  
• Rambles Among Books cont.
  
• The end of Rambles Among Books
  and the beginning of In the Silence of the Night
  
• The end of In the Silence of the Night
  and the beginning of Items of Fashionable Interest
  
• The end of Items of Fashionable Interest
  and the beginning of Bric-A-Brac
  
• The end of Bric-A-Brac
  and the beginning of Answers to Correspondents
  
• Answers to Correspondents cont.
  and advertisments
  
• Answers to Correspondents cont.
  and advertisments
  
• Advertisments
  
• Advertisments
  and notice of One Hundred Dollar Reward!
  
• Inside of back cover, with advertisments
  
• Back cover, with special notice on subscriptions