Proper manuals to make men’s clothes are very rare. Among the most famous (but also rare and often very expensive) titles there are Norah Waugh’s The Cut of Men's Clothes: 1600-1900 and Frederick Timothy Croonborg’s The Blue Book of Men’s Tailoring, but there is also a rather interesting slim volume written in Italian and first published by Hoepli in 1908 (and reprinted in 1921) that gave tailoring students notions of anatomy before explaining them how to cut perfect suits.
The manual was entitled Il sarto tagliatore italiano: manuale teorico-pratico per il taglio degli abiti maschili (The Italian tailor and pattern cutter: men's wear theoretical-practical manual) and was written by Giuseppe Peterlongo.
The book is divided in three parts: the first one features general notions about the human body structure and focuses on the bone conformation and the posture of men while the second part explains how to take the measurements and make garments that respect the proportions of the body.
The third and final part is the longer and also the most practical since it features a series of hands on exercises that explain how to take measurements of different parts of the body, from the shoulders to the arms and legs and finally be able to make garments for men with any kind of physical characteristics, from compact to muscular, thin and overweight or with asymmetrical body features.
The book also includes measurement tables and an entire chapter dedicated to spats ("Delle uose") with suggestions on how to get measurements of high and low spats, and closes with a chapter that highlights the importance of fitting sessions.
Despite the book was first published over 100 years ago in Italy, I think it can still be considered as one of the most interesting tailoring manuals.
I particularly like the part that includes the notions about anatomy since I don't think I have ever seen many contemporary tailoring manuals that emphasise this aspect (though they actually should).
I would really love to see this manual reprinted or even translated in other languages since it is undoubtedly very important from a historical point view.
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