Dressed to Kill, Dressed to Till
[British Costume and the Trades]. Pyne, William Henry. Microcosm: Or, a Picturesque Delineation of the Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, &c. of Great Britain, in a Series of Above a Thousand Groups of Small Figures for the Embellishment of Landscape…, 1st edition (1803-6). Contemporary (period) half binding of red morocco with gilt and marbled boards, worn, containing the rare 1st edition printing with original wraps, within marbled endpapers. Oblong folio. Aquatinted title page and 100 sepia aquatint plates. Pages clean with some light spotting, one plate torn and mended, with strong and crisp plate impressions. [Abbey, Life in England no. 177; Myers]. Etched and aquatinted by William Henry Pyne (1770-1843) after his own landscape and figural drawings, the work was published by Rudolph Ackerman, the leading publisher of English plate books during what is considered the “golden age” (c. 1790-1830) for such works. A truly ambitious and handsome work, it chronicled the costume, tools and settings of rural and town dwelling Britons, civil and military, at the beginning of the 19th century in thousands of detailed settings, contained within the 100 plates.
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