The Historical Encyclopedia of Costume [Hardcover]

Albert Racinet (Author), A. Racinet (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The appearance of Racinet's History of World Costume between 1876 and 1888 was a landmark in publishing history: this six-volume classic was the first large-scale costume book to use high-quality color photography in the reproduction of its sumptuous lithographs. Somewhat eccentric in coverage, it encompassed Europe and lands from Japan to the Arctic Circle and North America but excluded the American colonies. The present volume condenses Racinet's work and translates it into English for the first time. Its 2000 color reproductions cover the upper classes and royalty, as most costume books do, but, more importantly, also depict the working classes, soldiers, and the poor. Though this edition sacrifices glossary and bibliography and pares down the original, it is highly recommended for lay reader and scholar alike. Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Inc., Amherst, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Facts on File (November 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816019762
• ISBN-13: 978-0816019762
• Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 9.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,147,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Exhaustive and pretty, November 18, 2000

By 

Alex (College Park, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Historical Encyclopedia of Costume (Hardcover)

High on colorful graphics and low on content, "Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes" has neither a glossary to explain the obscure terms nor any sections explaining the guiding forces of the costumes' evolution. The right-hand pages contain the beautiful, albeit inaccurate plates, while those on the left hand contain the written captions for the illustrations. Sadly, most captions are simplistic and not very informative (how am I to know who a flagellant is and why he must whip himself?). The individual figures and costumes are rarely numbered (although the captions frequently refer to numbers that just aren't there); some of the figures don't have any captions at all, leaving the reader in the dark.

Nevertheless, the sheer variety of illustrations is to be applauded. Most of the world's regions and time periods are exhaustively covered, from Roman armor to the tribal costumes from the New Hebrides to the customary vestments of nuns of the Crusade era (unfortunately, and quite logically, there is no section on modern dress).

However flawed this work is, it does create interest in the subject and can serve as an excellent reference for authors of various forms of fiction.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No Use for the Historical Costumer, October 6, 2000

By 

Lilinah "bibliophiliac" (San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Historical Encyclopedia of Costume (Hardcover)

This book is not very useful to the historical costumer or those interested in costume history. Rather than paintings or drawings of clothing from their own time periods, it consists of redrawings in a Victorian style, thus distorting the historic lines.

It might be useful to theatrical costumers, Victorian recreationists or those interested in the history of costume interpretation or illustration. But it does not give accurate representations of the garments illustrated, so if you want to make historical garments, get books with pictures that are actually from the time periods of the clothing you're interested in.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A 19th Century view of the history of fashion, January 16, 2001

By 

Megan R McConnell (CHERMSIDE SOUTH, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Historical Encyclopedia of Costume (Hardcover)

This book is valuable in it's position as a 19th Century-written book on the history of fashion. For this reason, it would be invaluable to anybody researching the attitudes of the 19th Century.

However, for anybody wanting to research fashion it is of use only as a pretty oddity.

It is fun to look through - the coloured plates are beautiful. Some of them are quite detailed and can give a very good idea of the fashion, but it is necessary for you to do more research before accepting this as gospel.