VECELLIO (Cesare). - Lot 5

VECELLIO (Cesare). Habiti antichi, Overo raccolta di figure Delineate dal Gran Titiano, e da Cesare Vecellio suo Fratello, diligentemente intagliate, conforme alle Nationi del Mondo. Venice: Sebastiano Combi, Giovanni La Noù, 1664. - In-8, 181 x 111 : (7 ff.), 415 pp. Speckled brown calf, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fleurons, red speckled edges, red morocco book-box by Virginie Fonlupt (contemporary binding). Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres, V, col. 1104. - Colas, Bibliographie du costume, no. 2978. Third edition, the first posthumous and only one published in the 17th century, of this major collection of costume history first published in 1590, considered one of the first systematic studies of historical clothing and fashions through the ages, particularly during the Renaissance. Cesare Vecellio (1521-1601), was an Italian painter and engraver, brother of Titian. In this book, he explores clothing not only from Italy, but also from France, Spain, England, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Africa, Asia and the Americas. In all, the edition includes 415 full-page costume figures drawn by Vecellio, reproduced from the woodcuts of the previous edition (Venice, 1598) but without the frames: 190 Italian costumes, 104 for the rest of Europe, 51 for Turkey, 22 for Africa, 35 for Asia and 13 for the Americas. An exceptional copy, entirely hand-colored, the only one known to date. All the figures have been colored in shades of blue, yellow, orange, red, violet and gray, bringing out the splendor of this formidable costume gallery. We have not come across any other colored copies in the sales catalogs of the last twenty years. Bruges 1735" is inscribed in pen on the first leaf and title (partially scratched). A fine copy in contemporary binding. The leaves are perfectly fresh. Fine restoration to binding, paper restoration to corner of third leaf.