Antique English Costume Book Illustrated Calthrop 1931
Antique English Costume Book Illustrated Calthrop 1931
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Dion Clayton Calthrop both wrote and painted English Costume, which tells you something about the kind of book it is: not a scholarly apparatus but a deeply personal survey of how the English dressed from William the Conqueror to George IV, told reign by reign by someone who genuinely understood what clothes looked like from the inside. The 61 colour plates are Calthrop's own work, and they read that way, each figure rendered with the eye of a theatrical designer who knew that posture and fabric together communicate more than a description ever could. This copy, the 1931 A. & C. Black reprint, carries a Letchworth Grammar School prize bookplate dated 1935 and signed by headmaster S. Wilkinson, awarded to Averil Nolber for both Piano Duet and English Essay. A book about the history of English dress, given to a girl who won prizes for music and writing. The connection is not incidental.
The decorated red cloth boards are in good presentable condition, retaining their polychrome pictorial design in red, gold, olive, blue, and cream with only minor surface wear. Corners show light bumping. The gilt spine lettering is sharp and fully legible. The text block is sound and the hinges are holding. Pages are age-tanned at the edges as expected for a 1931 printing, with light scattered foxing to the preliminaries and some page margins; the colour plates are bright and display well. The front endpaper carries the pencil ownership inscription (Averil Nolber, 1931) and the pasted prize bookplate from Letchworth Grammar School. No missing pages, no missing plates. A Good+ copy, better than most that circulate at this price point, and more interesting than most on account of the provenance.
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