David Mason Fine and Rare Books
(William ALEXANDER).
THE COSTUME OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, Illustrated by a Series of Seventy-Three
Engravings.
London: Printed for W. Miller, 1803. First edition. Folio, full contemporary
calf, recently rebacked with a calf spine after the period, leather spine label,
unpaginated. With 73 hand-coloured engravings and 73 pages of descriptive text
which is printed in English on the recto and French on the verso. This copy has
been professionally rebacked with a new calf spine after the period and a new
leather label, some light rubbing to the boards and a bit of wear to the corners
but certainly a very good copy with stunning hand-coloured plates. Abbey I:244.
'The fourth in a series of costume books issued by William Miller. The complete
list, with published prices and references to others of the series in this
collection, will be found in the Notes to the earliest book, Mason's The Costume
of China, 1800 ... where the origin and subsequent series as a whole is also
discussed. The Plates for this book are closely copied, but somewhat enlarged
from a book by J.G. Georgi published by Carl Wilhelm Muller in St. Petersburg
... The text of this English edition is said to be by William Alexander.'
(Abbey) Abbey provides complete details of the later printings and publishers of
this work.
Books can also be
picked up at our location in Toronto at 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite
LL05, M5V 1R9. |