What do you think?
Ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian & Persian Costume
Over 250 illustrations, drawn in the artistic style of the period, depict apparel worn by Egyptian royalty, manual workers, and military, as well as by ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Flat patterns show cut of the garments, enabling today's costumers to accurately reconstruct this apparel. A comprehensive archive.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 7, 2023
It’s my dream book, honestly:
“Here is how various ancient peoples dressed, here’s how their fashions changed throughout the years, here’s what their jewelry and headdresses looked like, here’s how to make and style these Bronze Age fits for yourself”
4 stars because of the polite scholarly racism of the 50s
Alas. You can’t win ‘em all. This stays on my shelf for art reference and cosplay, probably.
Parthian men win this fashion show, IMO. New kingdom Egyptian women take close second.
Gentlemen. We need to bring back opulence. What are we doing out here. We look like shit. We wouldn’t be allowed within a mile of the Assyrian royal court, and they didn’t even have sewing machines. Get it together.
Also, this is a kinder age, none of us are horse archers. Pants are obsolete. We can wear comfortable drapery again, like Inanna intended.
“Here is how various ancient peoples dressed, here’s how their fashions changed throughout the years, here’s what their jewelry and headdresses looked like, here’s how to make and style these Bronze Age fits for yourself”
4 stars because of the polite scholarly racism of the 50s
Alas. You can’t win ‘em all. This stays on my shelf for art reference and cosplay, probably.
Parthian men win this fashion show, IMO. New kingdom Egyptian women take close second.
Gentlemen. We need to bring back opulence. What are we doing out here. We look like shit. We wouldn’t be allowed within a mile of the Assyrian royal court, and they didn’t even have sewing machines. Get it together.
Also, this is a kinder age, none of us are horse archers. Pants are obsolete. We can wear comfortable drapery again, like Inanna intended.
August 23, 2025
A neat little collection of “patterns” and history. I came only for the art so I cant vouch for the text within. This collection is quite old and the text it references are quite old as well.
March 11, 2017
I've never seen a book like this before. How interesting the cultural dress is, and how similar! Not very surprising I suppose considering the political and trade connections the nations had.
July 6, 2024
This book does have a fair number of costume patterns, illustrations of dress, as well as a few drawings of footwear and other artifacts, what's missing are color plates. You will need to research that for yourself. Given that it was written over 100 years ago and still a useful reference is impressive.
Read
February 26, 2021read
November 28, 2016
Thorough, detailed, and accurate illustrations.
March 27, 2017
Great resource for making Ancient Egyptian Clothing :-)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews