Costumes Français 1200 à 1713

London: printed by C. Hullmandel for Rodwell & Martin, 1830.

One hundred fine, hand-coloured lithographs depicting well-known personalities in various styles of French costume between 1200 and 1713. 8vo (140 x 108 mm); one hundred fine numbered hand-colored lithograph plates with legends (including pictorial title-page) drawn by George Scharf, plates 50 & 52 set slightly lower on the page. In a spectacular Bayntun signed binding of blood red calf with floral themed gilt decorations, raised bands at spine, wide gilt turn-ins. Very slightly chaffed at edges of spine, corner tips a touch bumped. The subjects include Joan of Arc, Bloody Mary, Queen of Scots, Ninon de Lenclos, many French kings and queens, courtiers, mistresses, soldiers, knights, politicians and admirals, from five centuries of French history. According to Hiler [533], the plates are reduced and reversed copies of those in Lecomte's 'Costumes Civils et Militaires de la Monarchie Française', first published in 1820 in four volumes. The present work was published as a single volume and in a smaller format by the renowned London-based printer and lithographer Charles Hullmandel (1789-1850).