French Fashion Plate Collection: Finding
Aid
Finding aid prepared by Charla DelaCuadra.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Prints and Ephemera
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
© 2013
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Overview of the Collection
Title: French Fashion Plate Collection
Dates (inclusive): 1807-1897
Bulk dates: 1832-1870
Collection Number: ephFASH
Extent:
approximately 2,400 items in 24 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Prints and Ephemera
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains
approximately 2,400 fashion plates from primarily French periodicals dating from 1807-1897 that depict contemporary fashions
for women, men, and children, with the majority focused on women's fashions.
Language: French and English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on November 12, 2014.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Item title, Call number]. French Fashion Plate Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
No acquisition information is currently available for this collection. The majority of the fashion plates are mounted on album
pages, but a small number of unmounted plates in Boxes 13-17 may have been
added from a separate source. Prior references to this collection in Huntington Library shelf lists refer to it simply as
"costume prints."
Scope and Content
This collection consists of approximately 2,400 printed illustrations of fashion trends dating from 1807 to 1897, with the
majority of items spanning from 1832 to 1870. The images, known as “fashion plates,” were often published in fashion and
women’s magazines or in bound volumes and primarily depict women modeling current dress styles, although some also contain
children’s and men’s clothing. The majority of the collection is French and most of the tailors, seamstresses, fashion designers,
artists, and printers credited on the plates were located in Paris, France.
Periodicals commonly represented in the collection include
Le Bon Ton, Le Boudoir, Le Cabinet de Lecture, Le Caprice, Costume Parisiens, Le Follet
Courier des Salons, Gazette des Salons, L'Illustrateur des Dames, Journal des Demoiselles, Journal des Femmes, Journal des
Jeunes Personnes, Journal des Modes,
La Lanterne Magique, Le Magasin des Familles, La Mode, La Mode des Demoiselles, La Mode Illustrée, Modes de Paris, Paris Elegant,
Revue de la Mode, La Sylphide, Le Voleur,
and several other publications.
The English closely followed French fashions during this time period, and the collection also includes a few British plates.
One example is an 1861 plate from the London periodical
The Queen (Box 18).
The materials in this collection consist predominantly of hand-colored engravings that range in size from approximately 6"
x 9" to 10" x 14". Most of the plates are mounted individually on larger loose album pages with mounting corners, tape, and/or
adhesive, however a small number of
additional unmounted plates are interspersed throughout.
Related materials in the Huntington Library include:
Arrangement
This collection of fashion plates is contained in 24 boxes. The plates are arranged chronologically by year, and grouped
loosely by publication within each year span.
Indexing Terms
Genres
Fashion plates.
Ephemera.
Engravings.
Intaglio prints.
Printed ephemera.
Subjects
Advertising -- Fashion.
Children's clothing -- Pictorial works.
Clothing and dress -- Pictorial works.
Dresses -- Pictorial works.
Fashion -- France -- 19th century.
Fashion -- France -- Periodicals.
Fashion -- Pictorial works.
Men's clothing -- Pictorial works.
Women's clothing -- Pictorial works.
Box 1
Fashion plates, 1807-1831
Box 2
Fashion plates, 1832-1833
Box 3
Fashion plates, 1834-1835
Box 9
Fashion plates, 1841-1842
Box 12
Fashion plates, 1845-1847
Box 13
Fashion plates, 1848-1850
Box 14
Fashion plates, 1851-1853
Box 15
Fashion plates, 1854-1856
Box 16
Fashion plates, 1857-1858
Box 17
Fashion plates, 1859-1860
Box 18
Fashion plates, 1861-1862
Box 19
Fashion plates, 1863-1864
Box 20
Fashion plates, 1865-1866
Box 21
Fashion plates, 1867-1868
Box 22
Fashion plates, 1869-1870
Box 23
Fashion plates, 1871-1884
Box 24
Fashion plates, 1885-1897
