XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: jclarke.usenet@cox.net   
      
   Dan Goodman wrote:   
   > J. Clarke wrote:   
   >   
   >> Every search I've been able to come up with gives me a huge number   
   >> of   
   >> hits for everything from insurance agencies to manufacturers of   
   >> horse   
   >> blankets, but not the story I'm looking for.   
   >>   
   >> The story title was "Quality".   
   >   
   > No, it wasn't.  Unless there were _two_ such stories.   
   >   
   >> The story was that an   
   >> extraterrestrial ambassador, who was more or less a centaur in   
   >> general conformation, was to be presented at the Court of Saint   
   >> James, and, per his people's custom, needed to be attired in   
   >> clothing   
   >> made on the planet he was visiting.  An elderly tailor was   
   >> approached, with instructions from the government to create a   
   >> "horse   
   >> blanket".  He refused, and came up with something much more   
   >> suitable,   
   >> by which action humanity passed a test.   
   >>   
   >> Does anybody remember the author of that one or the title of the   
   >> collection in which it was published?   
   >   
   > Title: Custom Fitting   
   > Author: James White   
   > Year: 1976   
   > Type: SHORTFICTION   
   >   
   > *Stellar #2, (Feb 1976, Judy-Lynn del Rey, Ballantine,   
   > 0-345-24584-9,   
   > $1.50, 209pp, pb, anth) Cover: Tim Hildebrandt and Greg Hildebrandt   
   > *Republic and Empire, (Oct 1987, Jerry Pournelle, John F. Carr,   
   > Baen,   
   > 0-671-65359-8, $3.95, 399pp, pb, anth) Cover: Alan Gutierrez   
   > *Futures Past, (1988, James White, Orbit, 0-7088-8250-1, £2.50,   
   > 228pp,   
   > pb, coll) - [VERIFIED]   
   > *The White Papers, (1996, James White, NESFA, 0-915368-71-4, $25.00,   
   > 400pp, coll)   
   > *The Road to Science Fiction 5: The British Way, (Feb 1998, James E.   
   > Gunn, White Wolf, 1-56504-157-7, $14.99, 622pp, tp, anth)   
   > *Emerald Eye: the Best Irish Imaginative Fiction, (Oct 2005, Roelof   
   > Goudriaan, Frank Ludlow, Aeon Press, 0-9534784-4-0, ?9.99, 293pp,   
   > tp,   
   > anth) Cover: Denise O'Moore   
      
   That appears to be it, thank you.  Now I find myself wondering what   
   "Quality" was about.   
      
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