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Collecting handkerchiefs is one of the few affordable areas of collecting in which the collectible also takes up very little space. Most people have preconceived notions of what hankies are – white cotton or linen square, decorated with a bit of lace or embroidery – and are surprised and delighted with what they see in this book – color, pattern, and humor. What’s more, these hankies are a social history of their time, the 1940s and 1950s. With World War II, women became Rosie the Riveters, making their own money and enjoying their independence.

The hankies in Handkerchiefs: A Collector’s Guide, Volume 2, reflect this new equality with their bright, optimistic colors and subjects. New social conventions, such as road trips, barbecues, and the cocktail hour, which became the fabric of America in the decade after the war, were chronicled in handkerchiefs. This book brings out the collector in anyone who inherited hankies from a mother or grandmother, or who enjoys good design. There are no repeats from Volume 1 in the more than 600 new examples shown.