Collection History

Many 19th century plate books on customs and costume came to NYPL from the founding Lenox and Astor library holdings, as well as the personal library of benefactor Samuel J. Tilden. Many of the titles chosen for digitization show dress in the context of ethnicity or nationality. Related dress materials, such as accessories and body ornamentation, are also included.

Related Resources

See also the following digital collections for additional regional works: [Africana & Black History; Asia and the Pacific Rim in Early Prints and Photographs; The Luso-Hispanic New World in Early Prints and Photographs; After Columbus: Four-hundred Years of Native American Portraiture; and Icons and Images of Cultures: Plate Books from the Russian Empire, Early Soviet Russia, and Eastern Europe, 1730-1935]