School, University, and Club Ties
Laver, James. The Book of Public School Old Boys, University, Navy, Army, Air-Force & Club Ties. First Edition. 1968. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in good minus condition—jacket shows chips, tears, and creasing.
This book, published only in the United Kingdom, is a remarkable achievement. It presents nearly seven hundred fifty ties in full color plates, divided by the organization for which they were commissioned. Each plate provides information on the date of foundation, history, and membership of the institution. James Laver, “the man in England who made the study of costume respectable,” wrote the entertaining introduction, in which he traces the necktie all the way back to the colors medieval knights carried into battle.
"Surely nothing is odder than the things most of us wear around our necks. How did anyone ever come to devise so complicated a structure and get it so universally accepted?"
--James Laver