Books and magazines that show us the fashions worn at various times in history.
Le costume historique. Cinq cents planches, trois cents en
couleurs, or et argent, deux cents en camaïeu. Types principaux du
vêtement et de la parure, rapprochés de ceux de l'intérieur de
l'habitation das tous les temps et chez tous le peuples, avec de
nombreux détails sur le mobilier, les armes, les objets usuels, les
moyens de transport, etc. Recueil publié sous la
direction de M. A. Racinet. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1888.
Tome I. Introduction générale et glossaire.
Tome II. Planches et notices 1 à 100.
Tome III. Planches et notices 101 à 200.
Tome IV. Planches et notices 201 à 300.
Tome V. Planches et Notices 301 à 400.
Tome VI. Planches et notices 401 à 500.
A History of Costume. By Carl Köhler. Edited and augmented by Emma von Sichart. Translated by Alexander K. Dallas. New York: G. Howard Watt, 1930.
Ancient Greek Female Costume. Illustrated by one hundred and twelve plates and numerous smaller illustrations. With descriptive letterpress and descriptive passages from the works of Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Theocritus, Xenophon, Lucian, and other Greek authors. Selected by J. Moyr Smith. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1882. —The illustrations by Smith are very good line drawings from ancient models.
Hieronymi
Bossii De Toga Romana Commentarius, accedit ex Philippo
Rubenio iconismus statuae togatae et praeter indicem geminum, quem
adjecimus, de modo gestandi togam ex Ferrario dissertatio.
Amstelodami: Sumptibus Andreae Frisii, 1671.
Costume des anciens peuples, à l’usage des artistes. Par M. Dandré Bardon. Paris: Alexandre Jombert jeune, 1785.
La Toilette chez les Romaines au temps des empereurs. Étude des principaux Objets de Toilette en os trouvés dans les fouilles de la Nécropole de Trion & du coteau de Fourvière. Par L. C. Crochet. Douze planches photolithographiques hors texte. Lyon: Sézanne Frères, 1888. —A short but very useful treatise, with many footnotes, on Roman women’s grooming and finery and the cosmetics and utensils they used, followed by a dozen photographs crowded with Roman toiletries.
The Costume of Turkey, illustrated in a series of engravings; with descriptions in English and French. London: William Miller, 1802.
The Military Costume of Turkey. Illustrated by a series of engravings, from drawings made on the spot. Dedicated by permission to His Excellency the Minister of the Ottoman Porte to His Britannic Majesty. London: Thomas McLean, [1818].
Asiatic Costumes; a series of forty-four coloured engravings, from designs taken from life: with a description to each subject. London: R. Ackermann, Repository of Arts, Strand. 1828.
A Treatise on Haberdashery and Hosiery, including the Manchester, Scotch, silk, linen, and woollen departments: with concise methods of calculations, ratings, tabular references, and remarks on the general retail trade; arranged as an expeditious and practical introduction for the apprentice, a guide to the assistant, and referee for the country draper. By E. E. Perkins. London: T. Hurst, 1833.
The Freaks of Fashion. With illustrations of the changes in the corset and crinoline, from remote periods to the present time. —no author, no date, but middle Victorian in printing style. The book attempts to give an answer to the "corset question," the tenor of which answer may be judged from the title. The illustrations are useful and sometimes horrifying.
The History of Fashion in France; or, the dress of women from the Gallo-Roman period to the present time. From the French of M. Augustin Challamel. By Mrs. Cashel Hoey and Mr. John Lillie. 1882. —Some plates colored.
Fashion: The Power That Influences the World. The philosophy of ancient and modern dress and fashion. But George P. Fox. Third edition. New York, 1878.
Fashion in Paris. The various phases of feminine taste and aesthetics from 1797 to 1897. By Octave Uzanne. From the French by Lady Mary Loyd. With one hundred hand-coloured plates & two hundred and fifty text illustrations by François Courboin. 1898. —The color plates are especially interesting, showing not only the fashions but also the characteristic diversions of the time, such as roller-skating or watching the advance of the Prussians from the barricades.
The Gentleman's Magazine of Fashion, and Costumes de Paris. Edited by Louis Devere. Each number contains five steel plate engravings; three colored plates of fashions, from drawings designed expressly and exclusively for this work; and two plates of models for garments. —The magazine originally included "one or two full-sized patterns cut out on thin paper," but these are omitted in the scans. Nevertheless, the "models for garments" must be extraordinarily valuable to anyone with the ambition to attempt their construction; they are sufficiently detailed to make useful patterns. The covers seem to have been printed originally in a lovely violet ink, suggesting that some things about the fashion industry have not changed a great deal since mid-Victorian times.
The Record of Fashion and Tailor and Cutter's Guide, edited by Dr. T. D. Humphreys.—With patterns showing how to construct various parts of the costumes.
Two Centuries of Costume in America: MDCXX–MDCCCXX. By Alice Morse Earle. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1903.
Les Créatuers de la mode. Dessins et documents de Jungbluth ; texte de L. Roger-Milès. Photographies de C. Agié. Édition du Figaro. Paris: Ch. Eggimann, [1910].