[Rarebooks] fa: Strutt's DRESS AND HABITS OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND -1796 - 2 vols./153 Finely Colored Plates

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed this week, along with several other 18th & 19th-century  
illustrated books, auctions ending Sunday, Jan. 17. Details and images  
can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name  
arch_in_la.

http://shop.ebay.com/arch_in_la/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

Happy New Year,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A., CA USA

Joseph Strutt: A Complete View of the Dress and Habits of the People  
of England, from the Establishment of the Saxons in Britain to the  
Present Time, Illustrated by Engravings Taken from the Most Authentic  
Remains of Antiquity. To which is Prefixed an Introduction, Containing  
a General Description of the Ancient Habits in Use Among Mankind, from  
the Earliest Period of Time, to the Conclusion of the Seventh Century.  
London: Printed by J. Nichols, for J. Edwards [et al], 1796-99. FIRST  
EDITION. Two volumes, large 4to (30 x 23.5 cm; 11.75 x 9.5 in), bound  
in tree calf, sympathetically rebacked with spines titled and  
decorated in gilt; iv, [6], lxxxviii, 124 pp.; [2], [lxxxix]-cxxxvi,  
[4], [125]-378, vii,[1] pp. + 153 hand-colored engraved sepia plates,  
including frontispieces (complete). ESTC T102863; Colas 2824.

A complete, externally handsome and internally superb example of the  
first edition of this important and lavishly illustrated costume plate  
book, uncommon in itself, especially so with the 153 engravings  
colored. And the hand-coloring here is truly exquisite: skillful and  
delicate, the colors rich and warm. Not to be confused with the later  
(1842) reissue with lithographed plates. Minor wear and bumping to the  
boards; mild offsetting from some of the plates; light finger-dimples  
to some page edges, vol. I with tears to 2 text leaves, spotting to 4  
text leaves, and some scattered light foxing to the margins of several  
plates; otherwise both volumes are exceedingly clean and fresh in very  
sound and appealing bindings.