Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Pages in excellent condition. Nice older book in good condition. Dustcover worn but book and pages excellent. Hardcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> In the early years of these armies ‘uniform’ developed from a need to provide cheap mass- produced clothing but later the design of uniforms became the personal concern of the monarchs themselves who drew their inspiration from a wide range of sources. After the social upheavals of the early nineteenth century there was a return to a practical drabness although many picturesque relics of the ancien r?gime remained even to the present day. This book displays all the variety colour pomp and panache of the European soldier in a series of photographs of actual objects accompanied by a sound appreciation of the underlying practical origins-whether of tunic helmet sabretache or shako. Since surprisingly there is no book in the English language which treats the uniform and its components as artefacts the author and his pictorial collaborators are breaking new ground. Furthermore this is the first serious attempt to correlate the influences flowing from one successful army to another over the centuries. The plates illustrate a selection of fine items from a variety of collections public and private. in Great Britain France Belgium. Austria and the United States. They make this volume a most desirable reference book for collectors military historians and designers. (MP)