Sammtliche Truppen von Europa.

£60,000 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

an exceptional example of a remarkable survival A large collection of 589 plates of Eckert's European military costumes in the original printed wrappers and portfolio. One of the finest and rarest suites of hand-coloured lithographs of European military uniforms. The first part comprising 48 livraisons with 8 plates in each gives a comprehensive overview of the German and Austrian armies. Part II contains the rare section on the Russian army with the dedication to Nicholas II, as well as the Swedish, Swiss and French armies. The plates include a series of very useful schemata showing the various colours of the ranks in each of the regiments. As Colas states 'it is difficult to establish the exact content of this collection as, apart from the numerous variants, the known examples vary in content'. A so-called complete copy would really be an 'ideal' copy, most copies having far fewer plates than were actually issued. It is rare to find a complete example of the first section, let alone with such a large number of plates from the second section. The addition of the original wrappers, portfolio and metal box make this exceptional example a remarkable survival. The plates are as follows: 384 German and Austrian (complete according to Lipperheide), 134 Russian (of circa 136), 39 Swedish (of 40), 16 Swiss (complete) and 16 French (of 21). Due to the death of Monten in 1843 only the section on Sweden was successfully completed. 584 of the plates are from the so-called Furstenausgabe

• Binding: Hardcover

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