该书最早在中国广州成书,时间约为1789年。但正式出版的地点是伦敦,时间则是1800年。广州版的《中国服饰》目前已从市面绝迹,其最后一次成交记录是在2003年,由伦敦的“艺术基金”(The Art Fund)从不知名的卖家手中购得,出价为17,000英镑,已交由牛津郡的Ashmolean 博物馆收藏。 2011年北京海王村拍卖 单一本GEORGE HENRY MASON 编著 《中国服饰 》1800年初版成交价格为RMB 100,000 此书达到国家级图书馆馆藏标准,适合大型图书馆或者私人博物馆收藏。鉴于其稀缺性及历史的拍卖情况,也可以选做私人艺术类书籍投资保值。
详细请参考百度盘大图 https://pan.baidu.com/s/1c6GCEE
title-page in English and French, 60 fine hand-coloured plates; 22 hand-coloured aquatint plates; slight occasional offset of plates onto text leaves. A fine bounded set. Beautiful pair of these celebrated books on China, boasting over 80 hand-coloured engravings. William Miller, the publisher, wrote: "By presenting to the eye a series of judiciously selected and well executed pictorial representations, forming striking portraits of single subjects, accurately finished in the colours of the original, and aided by short descriptive essays, they give more pleasing and definite ideas of the external character, style of dress, and peculiarity of occupation, than can be acquired by any other method, except personal observation." Miller goes on to say that the subjects depicted include members of all classes of society, from public dignitaries to common labourers. Overall these volumes offer not only a superb collection of finely executed aquatints but also an insight into the nations represented for the armchair traveller.
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