Buttons

"When buttons came in, about 1650, people couldn't get enough of them and arrayed them in decorative profusion on the backs and collars and sleeves of coats, where they didn't actually do anything. One relic of this is the short row of pointless buttons that are still placed on the underside of jacket sleeves near the cuff. These have been purely decorative and have never had a purpose, yet 350 years later on we continue to attach them as if they are the most earnest necessity"

From 'At Home: A Short History of Private Life', published in 2010 by Bill Bryson


By some inexplicable miracle, I've now managed to post 600 consecutive blips!  Big thank you's to everyone who's followed, commented on and/or given stars and hearts to my journal entries despite my own lamentably sporadic attempts at commenting.