Distribution of Some of the Death Clothes

[BettyO]

I've seen references to these detachable shirt bosoms in late Victorian and early to mid Edwardian literature and references - but was not aware that they were being utilized in the 1860s until I saw that ad --

They were mostly of linen - and in the latter half of the 19th Century they could even be paper. In the Edwardian era - there are reports of them also being made of enameled paper, stiff starched cheesecloth and also of celluloid!