The costume of the Russian Empire,: Illustrated by a series of seventy-three engravings

Alexander, William

W. Miller, 1803.

First edition. Folio. 34 cm X 26 cm (14 x 10 1/4 inches).  Bound in contemporary scarlet straight grained Moroccan leather. Some shelf wear, minor scuffs. Collated, all plates present. 73 hand colored aquatinted plates.  Each plate with a descriptive page of text English and French. Light scattered foxing.

An important record of the dress of Russians during the time of Catherine the Great. Local costumes from Lapland, Finland, Estonia, Tchermhisia, Mordvia, Votiakia, Ostia, Kazan, Kirghi, Tartary, Samoyed, Kamtshatka, and Koriak.  Costumes de l'Empire de Russie.  Plates "copied from a series of engravings begun at Petersburg in 1776 and finished in 1779 under the care, and at the expense of C.W. Muller [for J.G. Georgi's work: Beschreibung aller Nationen des russischen Reichs]."  Refs: Cf. Abbey Travel I, 244; Bobins I, 179; Cat Russica C1187; Colas I, 702; Hardie p.151; Prideaux p.317.