More than a pictorial archive of medieval dress and decoration, this beautiful collection is also valuable for its discerning scholarship. A magnificent compilation of artwork from Henry Shaw's detailed study of court life in the Middle Ages, this splendid book provides a grand display of medieval figures and fashions of the times. Reproduced directly from Shaw's original, hand-colored plates and identified by brief captions, more than 200 superb illustrations depict knights in battle, ladies in waiting, kings, queens, popes, and commoners, as well as armor and weapons, jewelry, and other decorative accessories. Skillfully adapted from rare paintings, illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, textiles, and stained glass windows, these lovely illustrations will be invaluable to fashion historians and costume designers. Craftworkers will find them equally useful.

Superb royalty-free plates from rare original edition of famed sourcebook depicts military, civil, and religious garb from France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Germany, Scotland, Russia, and Poland.

Drawn from the Louvre and other prestigious collections, these illustrations by a noteworthy 19th century fashion historian form a gallery of iconic portraits, featuring soldiers, nobles, and commons in their finest apparel.

Classic pictorial history of fashion from around the world depicts costumes over the centuries, from ancient Egyptians wearing pleated loincloths to well-dressed Parisian ladies of the late 1800s. 57 color plates. 69 black-and-white plates.

Originally written in the 1840s and published in 1858, Shaw's book is an essential work for the study of the life and history of the Middle Ages. His colorful prose enables us to experience the essence of medieval civilization from the point of view of a scholar who had access to a staggering variety of original source material from England and Continental Europe. He presents intimate portraits of the important people -- royal, political, and ecclesiastical -- of the Middle Ages, as well as conveying an understanding of the popular tastes of the common people of the times. Each full-color illustration is reproduced directly from Shaw's original hand-colored plates.