Racinet's Full-Color Pictorial History of Western Costume: With 92 Plates Showing Over 950 Authentic Costumes from the Middle Ages to 1800

by Auguste Racinet

Superb royalty-free plates from rare original edition of famed sourcebook depicts suits of armor from the Middle Ages, floor-length capes and striped tights of the Renaissance, the high-waisted Empire look of the Napoleonic era and much more. Includes military, civil, and religious garb from France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Germany, Scotland, Russia, and Poland.

Genres: History, Live Action Roleplaying, Reference

92 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

About the author

Albert Charles Auguste Racinet (July 20, 1825 - Paris, October 29, 1893 - Montfort-l'Amaury) was a French costume scientist, illustrator, painter and author of several to this day repeatedly reprinted costume and ornament history works.

Reviews

[Lisa Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those looking to get an idea of what clothing was like in Europe from around 800 to 1800, this book provides a reasonable full-color primer. It was originally created in the late 1800s by Albert Charles Auguste Racinet, a skilled painter. Now that it's out of copyright, it's reprinted by Dover.

When I first bought this in the late 1980s, there wasn't easy access to the web to see these images online. Now that the Internet has just about everything available, I still refer to this large-format full-color glossy book on my library. It's just easier to see the fine detail of the works in a nicely printed copy, and it means I can have the book right next to me while I'm working on a project.

My particular area of interest is the Middle Ages. There's a good collection of knights in armor, helmets, shields, chain mail detail, and more. There are religious folk of various types. Nobility and peasants. You get front and back views.

The illustrations here aren't nearly as detailed as in the fantastic "Historic Costume in Pictures" also by Dover. These here are more painterly, almost cartoon style, vs the highly detailed versions in the other book. So I'd definitely recommend having both to get a full image of what the costumes were like. Also, while there are some English outfits in here, the book leans heavily toward France and Italy. Sure, in many cases the fashions were quite similar, but it's always nice to see those regional distinctions.

There are a few pages of Scotland, Russia, and even cavalry, so there's some of a mix.

Well recommended as one of many books to have in one's library, if one is interested in the way people dressed during this time period. It's about 100 large-format pages, in full, glossy color.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5