A Collection Of The Dresses Of Different Nations, Antient and Modern. Particularly Old English Dresses. After The Designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and others. With An Account of the Authorities, from which the Figures are taken; and some short Historical Remarks on the Subject. To which are added The Habits of the Principal Characters on the English Stage. Vol. I. (-IV.) Recueil Des Habilements De Différentes Nations, Anciens et Modernes, Et en particulier Des Vieux Ajustements Anglois ...
RA Collection: Book
Record number
03/2305
Variant Title
Recueil Des Habillements De Différentes Nations, Anciens et Modernes
Imprint
London:: Published by Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand., MDCCLVII. (- MDCCLXXII.)
Physical Description
4 vols.; 275 mm. (Quarto).
General Note
Vol. I: 47, [1] p., pl. 1-119. - Vol. II: [49-]83, [1] p., pl. 120-240. - Vol. III: 35, [1] p., pl. 1-120. - Vol. IV: 39, [1] p., pl. 121-240. In some copies the plates are hand-coloured.
Contents
In each volume the plates are preceded by 'A Description Of The Habits'; and in Volume I this is preceded by 'An Account Of The Books, Drawings, and Paintings, From Which The Figures in this Collection Are Taken'.
Responsibility Note
No plate is signed. The title-page vignettes of Volumes I and II are signed as drawn by A. Walker and engraved by C. Grignion. In the 'Account Of The Books ... From Which The Figures ... Are Taken' the only illustrators' names mentioned are those of A.A. Orazi and A. van Westerhout, the draughtsman and engraver of F. Buonanni's Ordinum religiosorum in Ecclesia militanti catalogus.
References
ESTC, T88921
Lipperheide, Katalog Der Freiherrlich Von Lipperheide'schen Kostümbibliothek (repr. 1963), no. 37, p.32
R. Colas,Bibliographie Générale Du Costume (1933; repr.), no. 2507, col. 903-4.
Summary Note
Publication-dates are given as 1757 (the first two volumes) or 1772 (the last two).
The text and the plate-captions are printed in English and French in parallel.
The plates show the following regions and subjects: Vol. I: Turkey, Tartary, China, Levant, Arabia, Natolia, India, Persia, Egypt and Barbary, Poland, Hungary, Italy; Vol. II: Spain, France, United Provinces, Germany, Sweden and Russia, Scotland, England, Habits of the English Stage; Vol. III: Turkey, Tartary, China, Persia, Indostan, Kamtschatka, Africa, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland Germany and Poland, Italy; Vol. IV: Russia, France, Spain, Italy, Great Britain, America, [Allegoric figures]. The title-page vignettes of Volumes I and II show the most ancient of dresses - Adam and Eve dressing themselves in leaves.
The work draws on several earlier publications. Among the books cited as sources are those by C. Ferriol, J. Weigel, A. Kircher, J.B. Du Halde, J.F. Le Petit, W. Hollar, E. Burt, J.B. Le Prince, J. Chappe d'Auteroche, J. Speed, F. Buonanni and C. Ripa.
This collection was reissued in 1773 by John Boydell, with cancel-slips pasting his imprint over that of the original title-pages.
Reproductions
An electronic reproduction was published in 2003 (Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale). A microfilm version was published in 1986 (Woodbridge, CT: Research Publications).
Provenance
Copy 1: Possibly purchased in 1779. Cf. RA Treasurer's Account Book 1768-1795, [April or later in] 1779: 'Paid for Books ... Dresses £1:10s.'
Copy 2: First listed in A catalogue of the Library in the Royal Academy, London, 1841, p. 37.
Copy Note
Copy 2: Volumes I and II only, with the plates hand-coloured.
Binding Note
Copy 1: 19th-century half calf, green cloth-covered boards; rebacked (by Anthony Wessely in 1988), retaining earlier volume number spine-labels but with new title-labels lettered in gilt 'Colletion [sic] Of Dresses'.
Copy 2: 19th-century half red morocco, red linen cloth-covered boards, gilt-tooled spines lettered 'Collection Of Dresses Vol. I (-II.) R.A. 1757.'
Subject
Dresses - Costume - Clothing and dress - Great Britain - Europe - Asia - Africa - America - History
Pictorial works - Great Britain - 18th century