HISTOIRE DE LA MODE

FULL DESCRIPTION: DEBOUNY fashion manuscripts

[FASHION]. DEBOUNY (Hélène). Histoire de la mode.[Manuscript].
S.l., s.d. [October 1913 - July 1914].
(35.5 x 25.5 cm).  Modern boards with grey canvas spine and corners.

Title page in a watercolor frame, and 38 leaves (numbered in pencil), including 37 full-page pencil and watercolor drawings showing costumes, protected by guard sheets.  39 leaves total.

A splendid folio manuscript album, ostensibly an academic study by Hélène Debouny, bringing together, in chronological order from ancient Greece to the Third Republic, watercolor dress illustrations(exclusively women's fashion), with explanatory text on matters both historical and sartorial.

Nearly all the plates have the date they were drawn, starting October 3, 1913, and the album, by way of its systematic manner of presentation, strongly suggests that it is a work achieved as part of a formal program or academic assignment. This hypothesis is especially reinforced by the presence of pencil notations that seem to be grades (e.g. “8.8 / 10”) and on a certain number of sheets, of the annotation "Vu [seen]". Unfortunately, we have not been able to discover more details regarding the identity of Hélène Debouny who signs the manuscript.