Versuch Uber Das Kostum: der vorzuglichsten Volker des Alterthums, des Mittelalters und neuern Zeiten

A very good, near-complete set of the first German-language history of costume, one of the most extensive and detailed encyclopedias of costume, which has long been notoriously hard to find complete.

Complete in 10 octavo volumes and 2 oblong folio volumes.

With 626 hand-coloured copperplates (423 in the 10 octavo text volumes and 203 in two oblong-folio plate volumes).

A fine uniformly bound set of the 10 octavo volumes, with mixed editions of the oblong folio plate volumes and index volume. Includes the often-missing volumes Annotations and supplements (Ammerfungen und Erganzungen) by Leopold Ziegelhauser published in 1837.

As early as the mid-19th century, it was described as "rare and difficult to find complete" (Bulletin du bouquinist, 1859).

Robert von Spalart (died 1808) was chief of protocol at the Royal and Imperial Court of Vienna and co-editor of the Viennese Critical Theatre Journal. (Elke Gaugele ed., Fashion Knowledge, 2022.) The first volumes edited by Ignaz Albrecht were published in Vienna from 1796 to 1807. Spalart died in 1808, leaving his editors Jakob Kaiserer and Leopold Ziegelhauser to finish three parts of Volumes 1 and 2. The proposed third volume on Neuern Zeiten (modern) costume was never started.

Spalart was a methodical author, supplying credits and footnotes for his many 18th century sources for both text and illustrations. Those sources include Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Julien-David Le Roy, Johann Just Winckelmann, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Antonio Jolli, Friedrich Justin Bertuch, Sir William Hamilton, Carsten Niebuhr, Jean Chardin, Cornelis Le Bruyn, Juan Bautista Villalpando, Alessandro Galilei, Antoine Augustin Calmet,Karl Gottlieb Guischardt, Gabriel Daniel, Johann Georg Graevius, Ferdinando Galiani, Jean-Claude Richard Abbé de Saint-Non for the ancient history volumes, Jean-Baptiste de la Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Johann Ludwig Kluber, Esaias von Hulsen, Matthaeus Merian, Antoine de Pluvinel, Georg Ruxner, Hans Burgkmair, Marc Vulson de la Colombiere, Joseph Strutt, Jeremias Schemer, etc., for the medieval and Age of Chivalry volumes.

Antiquity:

Volume 1, part 1, Vienna 1796, Johann Just Winckelmann vignette, Plates 1-27, Egyptians and Greeks

Volume 1, part 2, Vienna 1797, Lessino vignette, Plates 28-67, Barbarian nations, Phrygians, Thracians, Amazons, Assyrians, Babylonians, Syrians to Germans, Gauls, Belgians, Britons, Phoenicians, etc.

Volume 1, part 3, Vienna 1798, Plates 68-110, Romans, Etruscans, Latins, Samnites, Marsians, and Sabines.

Volume 1, part 4, Vienna 1837, Plates 1-15, Egyptians, Greeks, Phrygians, etc.

Middle Ages:

Volume 2, part 1, Vienna 1800, Johann Gottfried Herder vignette, Plates 1-35, Goths, Sueves, Vandals and Anglo-Saxons

Volume 2, part 2, Vienna 1802, Bernard de Montfaucon vignette, Plates 36-70, Franks and Normans

Volume 2, part 3, Vienna 1804, Marc Vulson de la Colombiere vignette, 60 Plates 71-127, knights and orders of chivalry

Volume 2, part 4, Vienna 1807, Albrecht Durer vignette, Plates I-XLVII (1-47), religious orders and Turks

Volume 2, part 5, Vienna 1811, Mahomed vignette, Plates 1-73, late medieval European costumes

Volume 2, part 6, Vienna 1837, Plates 1-48, European costumes to the 16th century (lacking the 18 oblong 4to plates listed in Colas).

Index vol. Vienna 1805, index to octavo Plates 1-127 (Antiquity) and folio Plates 1-217 (Antiquity A-SSSSS, Middle Ages I-LXXVI)

Folio Volume 1, Antiquity, Metz 1810, French edition, 114 Plates (frontis, A-SSSSS)

With engraved allegorical frontispiece and 113 fine handcolored copperplate engravings A to SSSSS, ancient world from Egypt to Rome including Pompeii and Herculaneum. Engraved by K. Ponheimer and Paul Weindl after illustrations by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Julien-David Le Roy, Winkelmann, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Antonio Jolli, Friedrich Justin Bertuch, Sir William Hamilton, Berghaus, Carsten Niebuhr, Jean Chardin, Cornelis Le Bruyn, Juan Bautista Villalpando, Alessandro Galilei, Antoine Augustin Calmet,Karl Gottlieb Guischardt, Gabriel Daniel, Johann Georg Graevius, Ferdinando Galiani, Jean-Claude Richard, Abbé de Saint-Non, etc. Bound in full leather binding with red leather title label in French on spine, tissue guards with plate captions.

Folio Volume 2, Middle Ages, [Vienna, 1810], German edition, 89 (of 106) Plates (I-LXXVI, C, E-I, K, L, N-R)

Lacking engraved frontispiece, with 43 hand-coloured plates of Anglo-Saxon and Norman costume, tools, weapons, ships, 1-XLIII, 32 hand-coloured plates of medieval up to 16th century armour, weapons, chivalry, architecture, tournaments, XLIV-LXXVI, and 13 hand-coloured plates of religious costumes (lacking plates A,B,D,J,M and A-N). No engravers names on plates engraved after Jean-Baptiste de la Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Johann Ludwig Kluber, Esaias von Hulsen, Matthaeus Merian, Antoine de Pluvinel, Georg Ruxner, Hans Burgkmair, Marc Vulson de la Colombiere, etc. Watermarked silk spine and marble boards, title in German.

All octavo text volumes in matching leather bindings with marble boards, interior fresh and clean with no foxing, vibrant colour to the plates, two volumes with spines starting to crack but still solid. Index volume in full period leather binding. Oblong folio plate volumes with bindings showing wear, interior with some fingermarks and spots, but generally very good with excellent colour plates.