In the eighteenth century, both men and women carried accessories in their pockets that were designed to hold personal papers and currency. Many were decorated with counted thread needlework. The ground fabric, generically known as canvas, was frequently embroidered in colored wool yarn. 

Technical notes and description: Wool yarn; linen canvas; tabby-weave silk lining; buckram foundation; black wool binding and ties (probably replacements). Irish stitch in red, pink, blue, purple, yellow, and green yarns covers the canvas ground of this rectangular single envelope pocketbook with two inner compartments.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.