[HNW] book title- please vote!

[Chris Laning]

On Oct 5, 2007, at 12:12 PM, Kathryn Newell wrote:

> If I don't choose a name soon, the New Book is going, de facto, to  
> become
> "Opera  Nouvo..." <BG>
>
> I've narrowed down my own ideas to:
>
> The Universal Garden for the Needle
> A Garden of Delightful Designs for Needlework (part of the original  
> cover
> page subtitle of "Flowers of the Needle")
>
>> From others I have contributions of:
>
> The Needle's Garden
> A Garden of Delights for the Needle
> My Needle's Garden: A Treasury of Ancient Designs
> A Flower Garden for the Needle
> A Needleful of Flowers
>
> The New Exemplar: Embroidery Patterns 1530-1567  (this one doesn't  
> use the
> word Garden, but I like it)

Here are two factors to consider:

(1) Beware of trying to pack too many metaphors and modifiers into  
one title. This is what subtitles were invented for. Title formulas  
like "An X for the Y", "An X Y",  and "X of the Y" sound good and  
aren't difficult to remember. If you have more concepts or more  
explanations, put them in the subtitle (as has happened quite nicely  
with the New Exemplar title).

(2) If having a title that sounds historical is important, pick your  
historical period. and use words and phrases that were common in that  
period. It looks to me as though you have two possible periods:  
Victorian (when the original was compiled) or the actual era in which  
the patterns were published. ( A couple of the proposals sound  
distinctly modern to my ear.)

Also, I'd avoid the word "ancient" even if the Victorians did use it  
for referring to the Renaissance. Today it tends to make people think  
of ancient Egypt or classical Rome.

FWIW, my personal favorite is "A Flower Garden for the Needle",  
subtitle "Embroidery patterns from 1530-1567".

If all the patterns you're including are charted, I'd amend that to  
"Charted embroidery patterns from 1530-1567." Books of charted  
patterns and books of freehand patterns tend to appeal to two rather  
different audiences, so if yours are all charted, make it a selling  
point :)

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O    Chris Laning <claning at igc.org> - Davis, California
+     http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
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