Designs of Modern Costume. &c.

London: Henry Setchel and Son,, [c.1821]. A finely printed collection in an attractive contemporary binding. The exquisite illustrations by Henry Moses, depicting fashionable Neoclassical-style dress and furniture, were praised by the English art critic Sacheverell Sitwell as "probably the finest and neatest engravings that have ever made their appearance between the covers of a book" (quoted in Watkin, p. 52). Henry Moses (1781-1870), a printmaker and engraver who specialized in classical design, was distinguished by his "neatness and purity of outline" (ODNB). Designs of Modern Costume was commissioned by Thomas Hope, art collector and patron, and all the scenes in the volume are depicted against the background of his museum-residence in Duchess Street. Hope himself was involved in the design and composition of the suite. "The persons shown throughout the book - in what are, effectively, a series of conversation pieces - are dressed in modernized versions of the ancient Greek costumes which Hope had recreated from antique sculpture and vase-paintings... The women's costumes are an enchanting compromise between the fashions of the fifth century B.C. and of 1810; and as such they appear to be unique in the history of Regency costume" (Watkin, pp. 219-220). This work first appeared in 1812, with only 20 plates. The present copy is an enlarged edition, containing all the plates from the first edition and nine additional designs; multiple impressions of this edition, with variant titles and imprints, are known, though the order of their publication is debated. Savage, in his catalogue of early printed books in the British Architectural Library, states that the present undated variant is quite possibly "the first to have been published with 29 plates... issued between around 1820 and 1822"; he assigned a date of c.1821 on the basis of the imprint, as Henry Setchel died or retired in 1822. Octavo (218 x 160 mm). Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt ruled raised bands, lettering and floral decoration gilt in compartments, covers bordered with a double gilt fillet and a blind foliate roll, small ornaments blind stamped to corners, gilt decoration to board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Engraved title page and 29 plates. Extremities slightly rubbed, short split at head of rear joint, but firm, some marks and scuffs to boards, contents foxed, the engravings remaining sharp. A very good copy. Savage 2207. David Watkin, Thomas Hope 1769-1831 and the Neo-Classical idea, 1968; Nicholas Savage, Early Printed Books, 1478-1840: M-R, 1994.