Textile, ankara, printed cotton seersucker, traded by A. G. Leventis, Manchester, c.1960

Sample of dress fabric, printed cotton seersucker in a banded design of blue and pink stripes on a white ground.

Bequeathed by Miss Mary Kirby

This cloth hails from the Miss Mary Kirby bequest, a significant donation of global textiles acquired by the museum in 1964. Of the 70 textiles included in the acquisition, 28 were produced or sold in West Africa. Miss Kirby was a passionate textiles teacher, author, and collector. She taught weaving at the Central School, London, and in the 1950s spent many years in Ghana teaching textiles at the Kumasi College of Technology. Correspondence within the acquisition's Registered File indicate that she collected the textiles as educational aids.

A. G. Leventis & Co. Ltd is one of several companies - principally British or Dutch - who in the early 20th century designed, printed, exported and/or distributed factory- printed cotton textiles for the West African market. Formed in 1937 by Cypriot A. G. Leventis, the company was based in West Africa, but registered designs in Manchester, England. Merchant traders such as A. G. Leventis & Co. Ltd acted as middlemen between European manufacturers and West African consumers, bridging the geographical and cultural gap that separated them through their use of market knowledge, which ultimately influenced the design and distribution of such textiles.

CIRC.298-1964