Collection de portraits et costumes des différens peuples: qui habitent les cinq parties du monde

A very good selection of handcoloured costume plates from a rare volume

The plates were published in booklets of 6 every 20 days: 2Fr 50 centimes for subscribers to the Bibliotheque universelle des Voyages, and 3Fr for non-subscribers. It's rare to find complete sets in any condition.

With 47 plates (of 90 published), one duplicated (Pl. 81)

All very finely hand-coloured with vibrant hues

Mostly by Leopold Massard, a few by Ferdinand Wachsmuth and J. David

Many of the titles on the plates do not match the subject. Thus an Indian Raja is labeled Emperor of Japan, a Burmese noblewoman described as Japanese, California mislabeled as Mexico, Rio de Janeiro as Cincinatti, Alaska mistaken for Greenland, the Marshall Islands for Byron Isle, Polynesia for South America, etc. This seems to be common with other issues of these plates.

"Drawn by Wachsmut[h] and Massard after the original sketches made by the explorers themselves. Engraved on steel and handcoloured with great care."

The plates are adapted from engravings, often uncoloured, from early 19th century voyages by European explorers. The originals include Jean François de Laperouse Voyage, Louis de Freycinet Voyage, Captain Benjamin Morrell Four Voyages to the South Seas, Sir Thomas Raffles History of Java, Louis Choris Voyage pittoresque autour du monde, Alexander Burnes Travels in Bokhara, Frederick William Beechey Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, Sir John Ross A Voyage of discovery, Arthur de Capell Brooke Winter Sketches in Lapland, George Finlayson Mission to Siam, Reginald Heber Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India, Robert Walsh Notices of Brazil, Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton Travels in Northern and Central Africa, Amédée Pichot Voyage en Europe, George Timkowski Mission to China, James Silk Buckingham Travels in Mesopotamia, Hiram Cox Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan Empire, Captain Basil Hall Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru and Mexico, Captain Stedman Narrative of an Expedition against the Revolted Slaves of Surinam, Julius Klaproth and Jean Francois Gamba Voyage dans le Russie Meridionale, William Bullock Six Months Residence and Travels in Mexico, Alexandre Daumont Voyage en Suede, John Lewis Burckhardt Travels in Arabia, etc.

Leopold Massard (1812-1889) was a French artist, miniaturist, engraver and lithographer. Grandson of the engraver Jean Massard. He engraved hundreds of plates for Costumes Francais 1834, Tenint's Les Francais sous la Revolution 1843, Paul Lacroix's Costumes Historiques de la France 1852, and exhibited miniatures at the Paris Salon from 1845.

Bound in a black leather binding, boards scratched, bumped and warped, spine with gilt decoration but missing 5mm off bottom, front cover with title Album de Costumes Etrangers within gilt stamp, marble endpapers with bookseller's ticket of "Gaston Saffroy, 4 rue Clement," lacking title page. Plates bound out of order, with one duplicate (Pl. 81, Inuit woman of Greenland). All plates in very good condition, a few with finger smudges, paint splashes, slight spotting, but all with vibrant handcolour, some with gold highlighting. A previous owner had censored about four plates of bare-breasted women with an eraser.

A fascinating set of this rare series.