MOLEVILLE, Antoine François Bertrand de.- The costume of the hereditary states of the House of Austria ...

MOLEVILLE, Antoine François Bertrand de.- The costume of the hereditary states of the House of Austria, displayed in fifty coloured engravings; with descriptions, and an introduction / translated by R. C. Dallas, Esq. = Costumes des états héréditaires de la Maison d’Autriche, constant en cinquante gravures coloriées; dont les description, ainsi que líntroduction on été redigées / par M. Bertrand de Moleville.- London: Printed for William Miller, by William Bulmer and Co., 1804.- [6], XXVIII p., L f.: 50 gravuras color.; 36 cm.- E.
Bertrand de Moleville (1744-1818), a leading French politician in the Ancien Régime, was a minister to Louis XVI and head of the secret police in the early days of the revolution. Bilingual edition, with two title pages, two print lists, two notices from the editor, extensive introduction, with texts on opposite pages and 50 aquatints (the first next to the title page), coloured by hand, accompanied by the respective explanatory texts. The prints were engraved by engravers William Ellis and William Poole, from a collection of images published at the time in Austria's Vienna ("Costumes des États de l'Empreur"). First print and first title page with a small marginal stain; all prints produced a slight offset in contact with the opposite page. For the rest, a very clean copy with large margins. Full green morocco contemporary binding, from Levante, probably of English making, with a golden Greek ornamental border on the covers and a very worn spine. Gilt edges.