The Complete Costume History

"Racinet's work is...not only a documentary treasure-trove covering more than two thousand years of costume. From a historical perspective...it casts valuable light on the history of museums, the applied arts, and the changing notions of what constitutes a work of art."

Italie [detail]

People on stilts and common people, France [detail]

Germany-Rhine basin - 16th century [detail]

Persian men and women

Women with tufts 1640-1650

Doges of Venice and their Officers 9th to 16th Centuries

East Indian Men

French men and women engaged in conversation
while children chase each other, France, 17th century

Chile, Araucanian Indians and gauchos

" Originally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Racinet’s Le Costume Historique was the most wide-ranging and intelligent study of clothing ever published. Covering the world history of costume, dress, and style from antiquity through the end of the 19th century, the great work — “consolidated” in 1888 into 6 volumes containing nearly 500 plates — remains, to this day, completely unique in its scope and detail."

• About 120 illustrations from Racinet's Le Costume Historique are posted among the NYPL 'Picture Collection Online'.
• Taschen released a 630+ page version of 'The Complete Costume History' in 2003 in german/english/french for $US200 - they have an 8 page excerpt [link near the bottom of the page] from what I imagine is the introduction, together with other small images from the book. I wouldn't mind owning this one.
  

Roman [detail]