THE COSTUME OF TURKEY, 1804, WITH 60 HAND-COLORED FOLIO PLATES

(TURKEY) (DALVIMART, Octavien). The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings; with Descriptions in English and French. London: William Miller, 1804. Folio (11 by 14 inches), contemporary full plum morocco gilt, all edges gilt. $4700.

Second edition, later issue, of this "delineation with fidelity of the various modes of dress and peculiarity of customs" of Turkey, with 60 vividly hand-colored full-page plates after drawings by Octavien Dalvimart. Attractively bound in contemporary morocco.

The Costume of Turkey was one of a series of six costume books published by William Miller over a four-year period. Each hand-colored plate, drawn from life in 1798 by Octavien Dalvimart and stipple-engraved by John Dadley and William Poole, is accompanied by an explanation of the figure's role, responsibility and details of dress, written by Miller (misattributed by Hiler to William Alexander). "The drawings, from which these plates have been engraved, were made on the spot… and may be depended upon for their correctness. They have been most accurately attended to in the progress of the engraving; and each impression has been carefully colored according to the original drawing, that the fidelity of them might not be impaired." The popularity of these books created the demand for successive reprints—although the title page of this copy indicates the 1804 second edition, the text is printed on paper watermarked 1828 and 1829, and the plates are printed on paper watermarked "J. Whatman 1834," and it contains later reprints of Plates 21, 22 and 53, re-engraved by Poole. Text in English and French. Abbey, Travel 370. See Colas 782; Hiler, 16; Lowndes, 530.

Text and plates generally clean and fine, a bit of wear to joints and corners. An attractive folio in contemporary morocco-gilt.