Parts I & II (of 3), bound in 2 volumes. Part I with engraved armorial plate as frontispiece, engraved title-page, 2 leaves of text, & 99 (of 106?) copper-engraved plates, 1 with overflap; Part II with engraved armorial plate as frontispiece, engraved title-page, 2 leaves of text, & 81 copper-engraved plates, 1 with overflap. (8vo) 16.2x11 cm. (6¼x4¼"), later full gilt-ruled morocco, rebacked with modern morocco, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers.
Rare costume book of the nations of the world, concentrated primarily on Europe, but including parts of Asia and North Africa, and also male and female inhabitants of Virginia, and a noble woman and a king of South (or central?) America, in full feathered regalia. Two of the plates have overflaps, when lifted revealing 1) a Turkish woman on horseback, behind a portable tent carried by bearers, and 2) female passengers aboard a gondola. These overflaps are a characteristic of the costume engravings of the 16th/early 17th century Paduan Pietro Bertelli - some of them when lifted revealed ladies' undergarments. These somewhat titillating plates were often removed from his costume books, which seems likely the case here, thus explaining the slight deficit.
Condition:
Margins of the title-pages trimmed at bottom, then replaced with plain paper, on which writing has been crossed out in ink, a few marginal repairs to other leaves; apparently lacking 7 plates; overall very good.