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Historic Costume in Pictures
From 1861 to 1890 the Munich publishing firm of Braun & Schneider published plates of historic and contemporary costume in their magazine Münchener Bilderbogen. These plates were eventually collected in book form and published at the turn of the century in Germany and England. This volume presents all 125 double-spread plates from the third English edition. For the first time, the plates appear in chronological order and with English captions.
Over 1,450 costumed figures are shown, from antiquity to the end of the nineteenth century, covering a wide variety of social classes, and Egyptian and Assyrian kings, Byzantine emperors, Frankish and Norman nobles, priests, servants, soldiers of many lands and eras, crusaders, German knights, pages, Italian scholars, German townspeople, peasants, merchants, Dutch burghers, popes, nuns, bishops, monks, English Puritans and Cavaliers, English and French kings, Swiss citizens, French courtiers and republicans, and many more. In addition, there is excellent coverage of late-nineteenth-century folk and their costumes, captured just before the beginning of standard Western dress — Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Russian, Eastern European, Chinese, Japanese, Asian, and others. To avoid the variable and somewhat fanciful depictions of color in the early editions, all costumes are rendered in black-and-white.
A comprehensive source of historic costume in pictures, this remarkable book will be invaluable to costume designers, students of fashion design, commercial artists, and anyone interested in the history of dress. The illustrations are uniformly excellent, and the exceptionally low price makes this book even more attractive.
Over 1,450 costumed figures are shown, from antiquity to the end of the nineteenth century, covering a wide variety of social classes, and Egyptian and Assyrian kings, Byzantine emperors, Frankish and Norman nobles, priests, servants, soldiers of many lands and eras, crusaders, German knights, pages, Italian scholars, German townspeople, peasants, merchants, Dutch burghers, popes, nuns, bishops, monks, English Puritans and Cavaliers, English and French kings, Swiss citizens, French courtiers and republicans, and many more. In addition, there is excellent coverage of late-nineteenth-century folk and their costumes, captured just before the beginning of standard Western dress — Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Russian, Eastern European, Chinese, Japanese, Asian, and others. To avoid the variable and somewhat fanciful depictions of color in the early editions, all costumes are rendered in black-and-white.
A comprehensive source of historic costume in pictures, this remarkable book will be invaluable to costume designers, students of fashion design, commercial artists, and anyone interested in the history of dress. The illustrations are uniformly excellent, and the exceptionally low price makes this book even more attractive.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 18, 2017
THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE BLACK AND WHITE.
It's amazing how quickly the world changes. When I first got this book in the early 1980s, it was a stupendous resource. It has nearly 1500 costumes from all periods in history, rendered in stunning detail. You can see the ruffles of lace on a dress. The gentle folds of fabric. You get peasants and nobles, religious people and soldiers. You get Biblical times, the Renaissance, Medieval Ages, and pretty much everything else. Even if your interest is just in one particular period (I'm fond of the Medieval period) there's a wealth of information to work with.
Fast forward to the days of the Internet and now people complain "Well, these are all historic images from the 1800s - meaning they're out of copyright. And they're now mostly online!" I suppose that is now true. Even so, there are times that having a nicely done large-size printout in front of you is far better than a fuzzy scan someone posted on a webpage which may or may not be there tomorrow. I definitely appreciate having a printed copy in front of me which I know is always on my shelf and printed at a good quality level.
There are people who complain that this is black and white. Did you look at the low price tag of the book? :). If this book was full glossy color, for probably 250 pages, it would be MUCH more expensive. Also, as one can see from the historical documents created by Braun & Schneider, the color versions were fairly randomly painted in. They weren't necessarily historically accurate, in terms of the color. That could lead to HUGE problems for anybody actually using a color version as a guide for costume or research. I far prefer the black and white. That means I can research for myself which colors would be appropriate for a given situation without being misled by what an artist in the 1800s decided a dress "should be".
Also, the original plates (which one usually finds online) had German information - it's helpful to have the English translation here. So you can more easily tell if someone is a merchant, a servant, a General, or so on.
All in all, I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in traditional outfits. If there is a very specific item of clothing you're looking for, look through the table of contents first to make sure it's covered, but other than that, the book has pretty much everything one could want for most purposes.
It's amazing how quickly the world changes. When I first got this book in the early 1980s, it was a stupendous resource. It has nearly 1500 costumes from all periods in history, rendered in stunning detail. You can see the ruffles of lace on a dress. The gentle folds of fabric. You get peasants and nobles, religious people and soldiers. You get Biblical times, the Renaissance, Medieval Ages, and pretty much everything else. Even if your interest is just in one particular period (I'm fond of the Medieval period) there's a wealth of information to work with.
Fast forward to the days of the Internet and now people complain "Well, these are all historic images from the 1800s - meaning they're out of copyright. And they're now mostly online!" I suppose that is now true. Even so, there are times that having a nicely done large-size printout in front of you is far better than a fuzzy scan someone posted on a webpage which may or may not be there tomorrow. I definitely appreciate having a printed copy in front of me which I know is always on my shelf and printed at a good quality level.
There are people who complain that this is black and white. Did you look at the low price tag of the book? :). If this book was full glossy color, for probably 250 pages, it would be MUCH more expensive. Also, as one can see from the historical documents created by Braun & Schneider, the color versions were fairly randomly painted in. They weren't necessarily historically accurate, in terms of the color. That could lead to HUGE problems for anybody actually using a color version as a guide for costume or research. I far prefer the black and white. That means I can research for myself which colors would be appropriate for a given situation without being misled by what an artist in the 1800s decided a dress "should be".
Also, the original plates (which one usually finds online) had German information - it's helpful to have the English translation here. So you can more easily tell if someone is a merchant, a servant, a General, or so on.
All in all, I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in traditional outfits. If there is a very specific item of clothing you're looking for, look through the table of contents first to make sure it's covered, but other than that, the book has pretty much everything one could want for most purposes.
April 29, 2018
So it's basically a 19th century rendition of historical costume, hence accuracy may be less than ideal, but strictly as inspiration and visual reference, this book is it. I do wish it was less Eurocentric (there is a lot of German stuff here—a lot!), but, again, those are the limitations of the source.
May 2, 2015
This book is so awesome. This is at least my 8th go 'round with it.The illustrations are historic plates, with that old world look. Over 1450 costumed figures from antiquity, meaning Assyria and Egypt, to the end of the 19th century. The illustrations cover a variety of people, from all walks of like, poor, working class, merchants, scholars, Knights, monks, nuns, nobles, you name it. Each one is deftly detailed, from top to toe.
Every country you can think of, Italy, Spain, China, Switzerland, France, Germany,China, etc etc... it goes on and on, brought to life over the centuries, in amazing detail, each fold, ruffle, lacey edge is perfection. Every time I look through this book I see something new, the hats and wigs are just fabulous, and fun to think about how extraordinary it must have been to wear them and take care of them. When I take a journey back through history I'm glad I live in this century, because clothing at any other time was so restrictive I probably would have died of claustrophobia.
Every country you can think of, Italy, Spain, China, Switzerland, France, Germany,China, etc etc... it goes on and on, brought to life over the centuries, in amazing detail, each fold, ruffle, lacey edge is perfection. Every time I look through this book I see something new, the hats and wigs are just fabulous, and fun to think about how extraordinary it must have been to wear them and take care of them. When I take a journey back through history I'm glad I live in this century, because clothing at any other time was so restrictive I probably would have died of claustrophobia.
September 11, 2011
Nineteenth century visions of historic costumes. Convincingly realistic-looking, but not to be relied upon. Useful for collage art.
November 26, 2010
I love, love, love this book. In my single-lady years, I used to design and sew dresses for Barbie dolls, which I then sold at craft fairs. This book was my inspiration. I'd look at a dress pictured here, create a pattern from my clever little head, and sew a duplicate for Barbie. My customers were amazed at the authenticity of my doll costumes.
Funny how fate would have it. I've got two little girls, but neither of them is a big fan of Barbies. I have made them many, many doll clothes, but they don't seem to appreciate the work that goes into them. Alas, my talent is lost on children who have neither taste nor a desire for more.
Funny how fate would have it. I've got two little girls, but neither of them is a big fan of Barbies. I have made them many, many doll clothes, but they don't seem to appreciate the work that goes into them. Alas, my talent is lost on children who have neither taste nor a desire for more.
January 27, 2008
very useful detailed templates of all classes in Europe beginning with the ancient Near East and ending with the late 19th century in Asia. The templates were originally serialized by two German publishers from 1861-1890. The templates are done by several artists and are beautiful references.
January 18, 2009
Great reference.
December 25, 2015
Excellent references.
September 19, 2012
Great overview of many fashions of clothes through the years.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews