The Costume of Russia and Eastern Europe, 1811, with 72 hand-coloured plates

Edward Harding:

The Costume of the Russian Empire, illustrated by upwards of seventy richly coloured engravings. / Costume de l’Empire Russe, représenté en plus de soixante-dix gravures superbement colorées.

London, Stockdale, 1811. Folio. (38 x 27,5 cms.) [12] pp. of prelims. and introductory text + hand-coloured engraved title, featuring an eqestrian statue of Peter the Great + 72 hand-colored plates in stipple engraving (after Johann Gottlieb Georgi) + accompanying text leaves to the plates, each in both English and French. Printed on heavy paper.

Entirely uncut in later half vellum, very fine despite occasional slight foxing, some light soiling to engraved title, marginal repair to one preliminary text leaf and repair to verso of final plate (a short tear).

Beautiful plates representing the costume of Russia, Finland, Lapland, the Baltic states, Hungary, of Tartars, Kyrgyz, Yakuts, Turkmens and Circassians, the inhabitants of Kamchatka, the Aleutians and others. The first edition of this work first appeared in 1803, without engraved title and with shorter texts.

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