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The silk industry captured the imagination of Massachusetts farmers, businessmen and mill owners in the 1830s. The Florence Knitting Mills were established in 1838 in the Massachusetts towns of Florence and Leeds; a Boston salesroom was established on Summer Street in that city. This booklet praises the virtues of Corticelli silk and traces the entire process in illustrated fashion- the moth laying eggs, the chrysalis, the cocoons. It pictures the frame constructed on which the worms spun the silk. The finished product was then offered to the public in 'hanks': coiled or looped bundles of definite yardage.

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