The 3rd edition -- "revised and enlarged" -- of Needlework for Ladies for Pleasure and Profit by "Dorinda" (London : Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, 1886) is available online at the Internet Archive courtesy of the generous folks at the University of Southampton Digital Library.
The book is geared towards ladies who find themselves, through no fault of their own, surely, in distressed circumstances, and need a respectable source of income. (The "pleasure" part of the needlework is clearly subsidiary to the "profit", but it is kind of the author to emphasize that pleasure can be taken in work done well.) The first part of the book discusses the practicalities of making and selling various kinds of needlework, including which kinds are more marketable than others due to fashion trends, etc., and the last part lists work societies across Britain that sold needlework on commission (some of whom required references -- "one from a clergyman" -- this being 1886, after all), some by post, others in person. The middle part of the book is patterns for knitted items, crochet, and "miscellaneous items" -- fringes, balls and reins for children, penwipers*, etc. etc. While the knitting "recipes" do not give much idea of gauge, they do at least give needle sizes along with the suggested wools, so that the knitter does get some idea of the intended gauge.
There is, alas, not a single illustration in the book.
*When one finished writing with either a dip pen or a fountain pen, it had to be wiped clean so that the leftover ink didn't dry up and clog the nib. Penwipers could come in a dizzying array of forms, from ones very like brush boot scrapers to folded fans to a (rather frightening) doll's head or felted or sewn animals atop the circles of fabric that were the actual wiping surface. (And, yes, the succulent Kalanchoe marmorata is called "penwiper plant" due to its resemblance to the folded and stacked circles of fabric out of which penwipers were often made!)