[COOK] Costumes de différentes nations, en miniature. Avec des descriptions.

Paris : Guyot et de Pelafol, 1816. 32mo (68 x 60 mm), original calf, boards with decorative borders in gilt, spine lettered and decorated in gilt (a little worn at the junctions of the head and outer joints), marbled endpapers; 96 pp. with a frontispiece and 47 copperplate illustrations of people of the world; binding firm, scattered light foxing, occasional handling marks, top margins of last few leaves with pale water stain. Collated and complete.

An early French edition of Costumes of different nations, in miniature, from drawings by Alfred Mills. With descriptions. (London : Darton, Harvey, & Co., 1811).

A charming miniature book that takes the form of an ethnographical tour of different peoples of the world. The studies include, among many others, descriptions of the indigenous inhabitants of Greenland, Oonalaska, Nootka Sound, Lapland, Guinea, Congo, China, the East Indies, Peru, Tahiti, and New Zealand. The final section of the book (with 9 text pages and 4 plates) is captioned ‘Mer du Sud’, and chiefly concerns the Society Islands (Tahiti) and New Zealand. It is largely based on the discoveries of Cook and makes frequent reference to the explorer.

For the attribution of authorship to Priscilla Wakefield, see Darton, Lawrence, The Dartons (London : British Library, 2004, p. 177).

For another example, cf. Rodolphe Chamonal, Paris, Divertissements Education Jeux Spectacles Fables Cirque Danse (2025), n. 104.

Rare. No copies traced in Australian libraries.