Damascus: Tarboosh Makers

Date: c. 1909

An illustration of ‘the shop of a Fez-presser’ appears in the context of a story told in Damascus. The illustration is not explicitly identified as depicting a shop in the Syrian capital, though this is suggested by the textual context. The illustration shows the felt hats being shaped over hot metal moulds located above a furnace. See also: Wool merchant; Textile Dyer; Maker of felt floor coverings.

Citation: Duncan, Norman, Going down from Jerusalem: The Narrative of a sentimental Traveller (New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1909), illustration between p. 118 and 119.

 

Date: 1928

Freya Stark (d. 1993) describes the work of a man making tarbooshes (i.e. Fez hats) by pressing felt over a brass press heated with a primus stove. See also: Maker of Felt.

Citation: Stark, Freya. Letters from Syria (London: The Travel Book Club, 1944), p. 117, pl. 8.