The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings; With Descriptions in English and French. [ADDITIONAL TITLE-PAGE:] Costume de la Turquie; repr?sent? en soixante gravures, avec des explications en Anglois et en Fran?ois.

"ONE OF THE BASIC WORKS ON TURKISH COSTUME" (ATABEY)

Folio (35 x 24.4 cm). Hand-colored vignette title-page in English, followed by title-page in French; preface in English and French (8 pp); table of contents in English and French (2 pp.); and 60 hand-colored stipple engravings (many on paper with watermarks dated 1796) after Octavian Dalvimart and engraved by John Dadley or William Poole (the title-page vignette by R. Jones); each engraving (always printed on the verso) with facing description page (English on recto and French on verso). Occasional light spotting and off-setting from plates to the facing description; plate 1 and tissue guard bound at the beginning preceding English title-page. Early 20th-century red straight morocco by Bayntun-Rivière (their stamp in upper left-hand corner of front flyleaf), blind- and gilt-stamped tooling on boards, turn-ins and spine, marbled endpapers; some rubbing, but generally excellent.

First edition, with watermarks dated 1796, of "one of the basic works on Turkish costume, which has provided the prototypes for numerous other illustrative material" (Atabey). Dalvimart's vivid plates primarily depict the vibrant attire of the ruling classes and their servants, but they also showcase traditional garments—especially those worn by women—from the extensive territories of the Ottoman Empire at the time, encompassing regions such as Bosnia, Albania, Greece, Syria, and Egypt.

Octavian Dalvimart remains a somewhat enigmatic figure. He appears to have been active as an artist and engraver in England and France in the early 19th century. According to the preface, he traveled to Athens in 1797 and Turkey in 1798, where he created the original drawings for the plates, consistently sketching from life. The characters are precisely drawn and handsomely depicted in vivid colors. The accompanying descriptive text is sometimes attributed to William Alexander, drawing heavily from the published accounts of Turkey by James Dallaway (1797), Baron de Tott, who resided in Constantinople for many years until 1790, and other sources. This first edition was followed by subsequent editions in 1818 and 1820.

Little is known about the two engravers, John Dadley (1767–after 1807), who worked in London, and William Poole (active 1803-1807). R. Jones (active early 19th century) exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1780 to 1812.

* Abbey Travel 370; Atabey 312; Blackmer 444 (ca. 1820 impression), Colas 782; H. Hiler, Bibl. of Costume (1939); Lipperheide 1422; Vinet 2337; Bénézit III p. 317 (Dadley), III p. 335 (Dalvimart), and VI p. 95 (Jones) (no entry for Poole).