Physical description and Materials
The book measures 40 x 29 cm and consists of 12 pages of text written in French, including a list of plates with their respective titles followed by the 24 plates with images size of 17 cm x 26.5 cm.each The pages are not bound but are kept together between thick cardboard front and back covers which are inside printed covers. On front cover and the spine are the title and the volume. An image of a couple strolling in a garden with decorative borders adorns the front cover. It can be stored inside a cardboard box.
According to the colophon page, this volume is produced under the direction of Roger-Armand Weiger, the Conservator of the Office of Prints at the French National Library. He also provided a ten page written preface to the plates discussing the clothing style. This copy is numbered 220 out of 4000.
The paper used are “vélin Aussedat,” a wove paper made with fine wire mesh by the Papeteries Aussedat (est. 1801) in southeastern France. The paper is thick with a smooth surface, a type favored by pochoir artists in the same era.
The printing of the text was by Kapp Graphics, a company located in Évreux, Normandie. It specializes in high quality luxury commercial prints. The printing of titles were done at Lyon, France, a region historically important in the printing industry of France. The company is called Faucheux, a name derived from master printer Claude André Faucheux, who established his printing business in Lyon, France, in 1765.