Coutumes

1820 · D6906 — N.p. but Germany possibly Liechtenstein c. 1820. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to 245 x 165mm. A compilation of 73 brightly colored watercolors many with manuscript captions in German some are dated for the costume all clipped and mounted into book and illustrating the costumes and attributions of court officials knights Templar Tartar costume St. George on horseback German orders of nobility also for Spain France Holland Italian Turkish Egypt and Babylon and other various orders as in Order of the Garter in England and France and religious dress of ordained and lay members of various orders including German Italian Spanish and Cistercian Carmelite Carthusian Capuchin and Franciscan monks. Also Jesuit pilgrims and sisters of the Benedictine Sylvestrine and Cistercian among other lesser-known orders and historical figures such as Leopold III of Austria and Louis III of Tremoilles. Early 19th-century half calf over imitation silk cloth-covered boards and decorative endpapers spine with label COSTUME; some light foxing most severe at beginning otherwise the colors remaining extraordinarily fresh and bright. Armorial bookplate from the Princely house of Liechtenstein on front pastedown. <br/><br/>Unique compilation of 73 expertly executed hand-colored watercolors of various religious knightly and official orders with a bookplate of the royal arms of Liechtenstein. Each figure is executed with extraordinary talent and is superbly hand-colored in a range of washes; many of these costumes have changed very little and have a history stretching back to medieval times. In the twentieth century an interest in costume and fashion books was spurred on by the dawning Victorian age in England in the 1830s which then spread to the continent. Each picture in this unique set is an individual work of art full of expression and with strikingly attractive faces and gestures. The expert attention given to each work of art strongly suggests this book was a maquette for a larger print-run of a souvenir book of costumes. Captions are in German and early provenance points to possible creation in the principality of Liechtenstein. One can think of the principality’s official motto “For God Prince and Fatherland” and see how all these official garments best represent a history of European court and important religious connections for an established royal line such as Liechtenstein. Perhaps this book was once in the royal home of the Johann I Joseph Prince of Liechtenstein who had fourteen children and it may have belonged to his son Prince Friedrich Adalbert 1807-1885 who later became the 1018th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria. With interesting connections to the royal house of Liechtenstein and 73 examples of hand-colored historic costumes this truly is a unique survival. hardcover