About this collection

Antique Fashion Prints presents the fashion and costume prints of Bartele Gallery, a dealer in antique prints and maps in Langweer, the Netherlands. Bartele Gallery is the seller of every print on this site.

For three centuries, printed pictures were how the world learned what to wear. Costume books from the 1600s recorded the dress of courts and countries; travel volumes brought back the robes of Istanbul, Peking and the Pacific; and from the 1840s the fashion magazines of Paris, London and Berlin issued a plate with every number, so readers could follow each season's silhouette.

The prints here come from those books and magazines. Every one is a period original, printed in its own day and coloured, often by hand, before it reached its first reader. The date given is the date the sheet was printed. Where a date is uncertain, we say so.

The five wardrobes

• The fashion plate: Paris magazines, 1860s to 1910s.
• Court & couture: Kings, queens and the clothes that ruled.
• Folk finery: Lace caps, tall hats, Sunday best.
• Far & away: Robes and silks from Istanbul to Peking.
• Menswear: Top hats, tartan and very fine uniforms.

Questions about a print: info@antiquefashionprints.com.