Auguste Racinet
(1825 - 1893)
Le Costume Historique. Cinq cents planches, trois cents en couleurs, or et argent, deux cents en camaïeu [6 Volumes]
Auguste Racinet, Le Costume Historique: Cinq cents planches, trois cents en couleurs, or et argent, deux cents en camaieu, Paris: Librairie de Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1888
6 Volumes
Volume I: Costume Theory and Ornate Origins
Volume II: Antiquity – Ancient Civilizations and Non-European Peoples
Volume III: Europe – From the Byzantine Empire to the Renaissance
Volume IV: Northern and Central Europe – Renaissance in the 18th Century
Volume V: Popular and Traditional Costumes of Eastern and Southern Europe
Volume VI: France, Spain, Portugal and Costume Accessories
Bound in late 19th-century French half-brown morocco over red and black marbled boards; spine in six compartments with gilt-tooled floral devices and ruled raised bands, titled in gilt within compartments two to four; marbled endpapers (each)
Approx. 16.25 x 11.5 in (41.5 x 29.5 cm) (each)
FROM TOGA TO TURBAN: RACINET’S LE COSTUME HISTORIQUE — A HAUTE COUTURE CHRONICLE OF GLOBAL DRESS AND DESIGN
A monumental and encyclopaedic survey of global dress, this six-volume edition of Auguste Racinet’s Le Costume Historique remains unrivalled in the breadth of its vision and the splendour of its execution. Issued in Paris by Firmin-Didot between 1876 and 1888, it is the most ambitious and visually rich costume compendium produced in the 19th century—a work of encyclopaedic scope that draws upon historical, archaeological, and ethnographic sources to document five millennia of ceremonial, military, civic, religious, and everyday attire across cultures.
Lavishly illustrated with 500 chromolithographic plates, of which 300 are printed in colour with gold and silver highlights and 200 in tonal camaïeu, Racinet’s work combines historical fidelity with decorative opulence. The plates—some heightened with metallic ink—reproduce costumes with an exactitude and chromatic subtlety that remain unsurpassed in the field of 19th-century colour printing. Bound in matching French half-brown morocco over red and black marbled board, this set exemplifies the grandeur of fin-de-siècle French book design.
The six volumes comprise over 2,500 pages of detailed scholarly text, supported by an extraordinary graphic apparatus.
Volume I: Costume Theory and Ornate Origins
[2], viii (Préface & Table des Matières), 540 pp. with 12 large-format chromolithographed ornamental and pattern plates.
Scholarly introduction to the history of costume, its classificatory systems, terminology, and ornamental language, accompanied by a stunning series of colour plates illustrating pan-cultural motifs, symbols, and patterns. This foundational volume establishes Racinet’s methodical approach, positioning clothing as both material culture and visual language.
Volume II: Antiquity – Ancient Civilizations and Non-European Peoples
viii, 96 pp. with 88 chromolithographed plates.
Regions Covered: Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Classical Greece, Imperial Rome; India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Siam, Turkey; Indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas.
A sweeping survey of non-European and ancient civilisations, this volume illustrates the ritual, social, and ceremonial costumes of pre-modern cultures with remarkable ethnographic sensitivity and archaeological fidelity. The plates are accompanied by contextual essays derived from historical, mythological, and archaeological sources.
Volume III: Europe – From the Byzantine Empire to the Renaissance
iv, 96 pp., 95 chromolithographed plates.
Regions Covered: Byzantine Empire; France, Italy, Spain, and Poland from the Middle Ages through the early Renaissance.
Focusing on the medieval and early modern costume traditions of Southern and Central Europe, this volume documents the evolution of religious vestments, aristocratic fashion, and civic dress across feudal and early courtly societies. The visual style shifts from symbolic abstraction to representational naturalism, mirroring broader changes in European art and society.
Volume IV: Northern and Central Europe – Renaissance in the 18th Century
iv, 96 pp., 97 chromolithographed plates.
Regions Covered: Germany, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Scandinavia.
A rich visual narrative of early modern to Enlightenment-era attire, including civic, military, and court costume. This volume captures regional diversity and the transformation of masculine and feminine dress in Protestant and Catholic contexts. Highlights include depictions of English Elizabethan dress, Dutch burgher styles, and Germanic regalia.
Volume V: Popular and Traditional Costumes of Eastern and Southern Europe
iv, 96 pp., 94 chromolithographed plates.
Regions Covered: Russia, Hungary, Bohemia, the Balkans, Greece, Dalmatia, Southern Italy.
Concentrating on regional and folk costume across Eastern and Southern Europe, this volume illustrates peasant dress, ceremonial garb, and festive attire, offering an unparalleled visual record of local identities and rural heritage. The plates also include depictions of trades, tools, and textile patterns, adding valuable ethnographic context.
Volume VI: France, Spain, Portugal and Costume Accessories
iv, 96 pp., 97 chromolithographed plates.
Regions Covered: France, Spain, and Portugal; thematic sections on jewellery, footwear, fans, headwear, military and ecclesiastical ornamentation, and transport.
This final volume returns to Western Europe to depict 18th- and 19th-century ceremonial and regional costume, alongside an extensive visual glossary of accessories and symbols of status. It concludes the series with a synthesis of clothing as art, identity, and ornament, supported by iconographic essays and stylistic comparisons.
Note: Headings are modern interpretive descriptors reflecting each volume’s content; original volumes bear only the series title Le Costume Historique.
Racinet’s synthesis is not merely illustrative but analytical: it cross-references fashion with art, architecture, politics, and climate, offering a comprehensive lens through which to understand cultural identity across space and time. His work was informed by contemporary museology, archaeological discovery, and Orientalist fascination, making it a key artefact of its intellectual moment. Le Costume Historique thus transcends the category of costume book to become an iconographic atlas of civilisational expression.
Sets in fine condition, complete with the full suite of plates and retaining their original bindings, are increasingly rare on the market. Le Costume Historique is more than a landmark of 19th-century scholarship and printing—it is a visual monument to the cultural imagination of humanity. Encyclopaedic in scope, resplendent in design, and intellectually ambitious in execution, Racinet’s masterwork endures as an object of aesthetic wonder and a cornerstone in the history of dress, design, and illustrated publishing. Few works of this magnitude offer such a sweeping—and still unrivalled—panorama of global civilisation through the language of clothing.
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