Small 4to. vi, [2], 60 hand-coloured engraved plates, each plate accompanied by a descriptive text, (approximately 60 pages of text), later crimson full morocco by Schifferson, lightly rubbed, title gilt on raised spine with red and green labels, scattered light spotting and one or two closed tears, mainly to text, printed for James Goodwin, by W. Lewis, London, second edition, circa 1814.

Synopsis

A small-scale version of Alexander’s The Costumes of Turkey (1802), engravings and descriptions including dervishes and dancers, musicians and porters, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, and Tartars etc. plus eunuchs, odalisks, other women, servants, a musician, officers of the Janissaries, soldiers, a naval admiral, the grand vizier and several tradesmen. First published in French as Costume de la Turquie and in English in 1802 as The Costumes of Turkey. Attributed to the French artist Octavien Dalvimart about whom little is known (the Preface). It seems the text is by another, sometimes attributed to William Alexander, as one of the descriptions includes a comment made by Octavien Dalvimart.
The English artist William Alexander accompanied the Macartney Embassy to China in 1792 as draughtsman and in 1808 was appointed Assistant Keeper of antiquities in the British Museum.
Bibliographic references: Abbey Travel 370; Colas 783; Lipperheide 1423. Hiler, p.16.