The World in a Book: The Creation of the Global in Sixteenth-Century European Costume Books*
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Richard Hakluyt in his Principal Navigations advised would-be explorers in their mission to discover a north-eastern passage to China to carry with them two types of book. The first was an updated ‘new Herball and such books as make shew of Herbes, Plantes, Trees, Fishes, Foules, and Beastes of all Regions’. The second type of book to be used ‘to astonish the natives’ and as a reference guide to foreign lands was what Hakluyt called ‘the book of the attire of all nations’.1 Hakluyt referred to what today are commonly called costume books, collections of the costumes of different people in Europe and other parts of the world. By the time Hakluyt published the first edition of his travel narratives in 1589, at least a dozen such costume books had been published in France, Italy and Germany in the previous twenty-five years.2 In the following decade the genre of the costume book reached maturity with the publication of Cesare Vecellio’s two editions of his Habiti antichi et moderni, comprising more than four hundred plates each.3 Among the sources available to global historians, costume books have been less studied than maps, travel narratives and the collecting of world exotica as part of their consideration of the expanding horizons of Renaissance Europeans. Travel narratives and diaries have provided a lens through which to recover the agency of all the parties involved in global contacts, encounters and interactions.4 Similarly the analysis of collecting and gifting practices and the formation of cabinets of curiosities has stimulated a material-culture approach to European knowledge formation especially in relation to the extra-European world.5 Maps, atlases and more generally cartography have also been considered as integral to the new ways in which Europeans reshaped their geographic understanding of the world in the century following their discovery of the Americas and the opening of direct navigation routes to Asia.6 Giulia Calvi has recently made the argument that in an attempt to create an ‘early modern culture of space’ costume books bridge anthropology, travel literature and visual culture.7 They are complex sources that should be considered together with travel accounts (of which they retain the ethnographic ambition and human subject), collecting and gifting (as they reflect visually on material and sartorial practices), and cartography (with which they share a topographical aim and visual language). Costume books need to be ‘read’ in conjunction with their relations, travel accounts, pamphlets, maps and pictures that, as recently noted by Susanna Burghartz, ‘processed the experiences of new places while creating new pictorial and literary worlds for an increasingly numerous European public’.8 So far, however, costume books have been mostly studied for the visual evidence that they present in thousands of clothed figures, most of which are deemed to embody sartorial specificity across space. Historians of dress and costume are therefore well acquainted with the potential as well as the pitfalls of using costume books. Yet, costume books have so far received limited consideration in historical writing. This is due to a combination of causes. Visual culture has never been fully integrated into the toolkit of microhistorical methodologies. By relying on written archival material to recover the richness of specific events and individual stories, microhistory has sidelined the visual and the material. The rise of global history has provided new impetus for a deeper engagement with a wider range of sources to include different modes of writing, recording and representation that are often treated as separate in European archival classifications, historical research and disciplinary boundaries. Notwithstanding its many drawbacks, digital access has provided an entry point for historians into a wider variety of source materials that include prints, miniatures, digitized books and manuscripts, artefacts and large-scale maps.9 This has allowed easier access to costume books as well and an enhanced capacity to record and store their visual materials. It has made it possible to analyse several of these books at once and compare specific images across different books. Why are costume books useful for historians? They articulate the relationship between the specificity of an individual image or figure and the general phenomenon of a collection of images whose ambition is to represent the entire world.10 This is a methodological issue well appreciated by historians who use very precise sources to weave sometimes large (general and global) narratives. In the case of costume books, the source material is both micro in its reference to the specificity of each figure and macro in its overarching ambition at capturing an entire world. The binomial ‘micro–macro’ is accompanied by a further dimension: the relationship between the local and the global.11 We move here from a methodological approach to a geographical dimension. Costume books are deceptive in creating a seamless transition between the locality represented in each image and the global (one might even say universal) ambition of such books. They ask us to reflect on the meaning of concepts such as ‘near’ and ‘far’ and the point of view their visual They also us to the ways in which and and and with each both sources for historians and historical costume books a second methodological their use and meaning at the time of their of global they create and they the expanding horizons of Renaissance they articulate the relationship between the individual places of and represented by specific costumes and that of and the world as a costume books are a of what has been as a through which new of what historians and to as ‘the in They an into the ways European the between locality and global and the ways in which they the of and their dress to wider of the very of the world. the and material of travel narratives and collecting costume books the visual the image of the clothed as a of knowledge This is a of costume books that to be as historians often to with visual evidence especially what might have in costume books than what from the of a century might from their analysis as point to be noted is that what is is in it is or even a representation of costume in different parts of the world. in costume books the point might have been as for is an of the world. Costume books are therefore of the ways in which Europeans and time across and and to a such This is what have called a that in different and through different of knowledge into in the of the This on the of has that at in other parts of the their costume books by their the individual and the specific places by It the and through which was through a of and the together of individual and it on what of costume books which view of the world they and what was from This that global the view of the world by costume books was of It a world that was and in which the of the global on the of the local and its It was also a in which and time as the world that they present was by people that It be to of costume books as a genre of or type of They in the of the both from and from costume The by in the of their and both and of clothed especially from the a to record travel as through The in in what called a of figure which all of both of the and of the of be from This was to the in the of dress that all the different and that these on and by local in sometimes from European in and comprising between and two hundred present in different European most by their be at and as the in his of the of of ‘the used most and are by their a in these from local in as a of visually capturing and the of different and in of and dress historians have the complex relationship between costume and costume of the images in costume books and even from as in the case of the figure of the here from This is the case for the dress of all in from the to to as well as and a from of the or Costume books with an ethnographic ambition well by in the to his costume book that to and represent ‘the and of foreign people of different and as they are and as have them to their or from Costume books have therefore to be as part of a wider literary in the and of people the world that, as integral to the and the representation of space’ in Renaissance costume books several costume books The in narratives and of the parts of the world an the and images most commonly ways to represent was through that the world was into that ‘the and the to Europeans and therefore to knowledge of the and visual It is therefore that all costume books, with published in and commonly considered to be the first costume in of the of Europe such as and and such as and the by and and the of at as as Europeans to other as Hakluyt The of the different parts of the world often to be on costume and their ambition for global of by of The and for Costume and and provided by the Costume is the of costume books. and from such as to more and books such as of that Vecellio’s was the most and the plates and of the second edition in the Costume books might have the of and what Yet, they in of the of costume books is the that they into several and in and This on the an to be made as to the of the from costume books to be and in with new plates in and as in the case of and of and In the in which in the and their plates travel accounts, costume books travel as a source of and sometimes They from the and of books such as and as well as such as et and the and therefore of travel was in costume books by a view of the world that book is the first to include all and the places by individual other books such as in the of editions from a to a of individual figures, a that and its into four The to the is in Cesare Vecellio’s Habiti antichi et and its and edition Habiti antichi et published the Vecellio’s ambition was to the parts of the and in its edition the in of The of costume books to move from the and the the and a the in the and of In costume books each figure a often for a specific us for the and the from published in in They two at first the of people and their costumes and what might in costume books limited they and visual are to or other topographical They are to be as of the of made them more than of This to dress the to the specificity of each even its might be In through the of costume books, is to and as a in separate and from and for that is to say the of to the specificity of what a is different from what is in also such as the of the used by or the attire of the as to that of the In costume books is also by a of as be in the of are represented by a a and an all the so as to a The that the clothed figure is to represent is and the that might be through the of or other European and are by the of through the dress by and and of in on with and of of the is here a for that the to that the figure the and that the of the be through is through the to specific for in his in the dress of Europe and the to his as part of the of the of the of to the direct the that the from the of the of the of France, and a many and and from which with a of plates to the costumes of the very and his books other was to on provided by a of and in and in Europe as well as The for on the between dress and In the dress as it might for us was considered to be in in et that the of of by an between dress and here should be considered as a a and in which and the two of the of the of what is of a and is an between and for the of It is a that in costume books is as a The that different and be through dress was it was well for by the in his first published in In costume books dress to be used as an of a relationship between be it or and The between and allowed dress to and that ‘the of dress and they are to the and of was a that us that costume books to present a that them in direct to plates which they are often the the of and and the of costume books time and and dress an of a relationship between an and the of the The between individual and the locality that costume books present is through The topographical specificity a or of representation that through as a This that a for is to be across different costume books in the very that they use many in at least two books and the most images in to of the costume books of the The in costume books also used in other such as by and a collection of of the world that several of and them in their as in the case of the of for which used The of the is here to be a separate and space. the time the view of an is by its at the of the the of the is a relationship here between the of cartography and and that of The of from and The This between and is especially in of the that often include and The at is an of It is to be in several as in and also in several costume books, which are and and Vecellio’s two editions of his Habiti antichi et his that to be in and at they are on and and This image of the in costume books is of the that in European and a of other images to the of a for in the that of the in by and in This has so far that in costume books individual images for the of specific places often or the of costume books in their to geographical and that the of The of in costume books on the relationship between individual images and their in a costume books both visually and a of between images and places through their The was the of a often across costume books that is to the as us two from Vecellio’s first the and the of each figure and his that the of are in and dress is with and They and with as in the They also and as well as on their us that or for of and the of they or and with and they on their European have been to the figure of the through an understanding of and with more as for that of the these two to share for and they in of is in costume books through a of that on that are than or his that their and all of them their and their that have been to European of and in Cesare Habiti antichi et is at the of costume books, such should be to a between Europeans and costume books a in which Europe had to a of through is and on the and of that for the of the in and to European also by that the their with of a to by and their dress very to by in and are used to and create an of at least of to the The of images is therefore in the of costume books. a of these books create what a of This is a a relationship between and an attempt at is costume books share with cabinets of curiosities a of of their costume books might be considered of in which ‘the is from view of a on and the and relationship between the of costume books is or for that the by have been from or that the of which European was made have from The between and to the of the that provided so knowledge and impetus to the very of costume Costume books create a of and of through and This is from the to the and from the specific to the costume books are in a with the different parts of Europe and to the the and the in his the world into with Italy of the and with France, and and China in that and the parts of his books their plates to the or they published and to Italy in or with the and the editions of book with or and such as and the to Italy and The the to the of publication and to and the local are to the of through a complex of and the of The of plates to each less numerous the more from ‘the is a of most places to be represented at least by and The from the to the therefore in the that is increasingly both in of as a or the as a and types of are so what in is a in in with reference to maps that include that the more of the more a as they for an entire than a specific This however, is in for costume to the world in the of a book even the second of the century costume books more and deemed to the entire world by a view of its and its different They an ambition of the world with atlases such as first published in They also from such as and such as The and of all in editions between and the new world in the costume books are in often and in of the previous century had in and on a between Europe and the of the Costume books, in with new Renaissance a of the world that to be at the time had to that it be in the first edition of his the world into parts and referred to Europe as of provided a of the that and the time to the that parts of the world are from and are in the of that have been have their their dress their This is in a second and his to include plates on and new plates of the of the also the world into Europe as a and geographical by the of different the costume books of the second of the century in the their and by to China and might be that from a visual and point of a of knowledge of in Europe well the for China through four a a further a and a of a part in the of the by is a between image and for that the a represent more is the of in costume books. In a figure of a of in his second edition of This the of four by the in and The that other by to Europe in the following is an of the of in understanding and The have Vecellio’s and to the and that the had to the and that be in the of the of in the might have more from of the images that in the such as the of and in which the are represented as with of in Cesare Habiti antichi et The ambition in Vecellio’s and other costume books of wider on the that all people represented share a as a human the of of such as and several the costume books represent as a a and by European This be in the that the European of is to all other parts of the Yet, even the world is of might say even of geographical to the European with new lands that the different people of the world in The might all on a as on the to a as to a or to a as to an or the different costume books so they with In the to dress and was to the costumes especially of the people of This allowed the of a of in which modern dress was to This from to be used to as in costume books it is used for two other The first is the visual of in the dress of a visual that has to the The second is the of across space. of costume books is that while dress is in it is more The that in Europe are of and all and other dress is part of a of that the of through dress and for the they in a time that that of the in was as the dress of the of these in the also their time was from and the dress of and The figure on the is to the in of The and for Costume and and provided by the Costume The and between two plates from be and the costumes of in are represented in the clothed of a part of the world that the and and what most to the is the and of of the represented and the use of to the of the The people of the Americas in costume books to a that was in time that the very of European and its ‘the of part of the as a pictorial for a history of costume in which time be across from to and two from the the of and a an and a and from of The and for Costume and and provided by the Costume The of of the costumes of the Americas is an of costume books. that of a of more than two plates in of the costume books, more than are to the for two plates of a and a had be in the and a and a of visual for the Americas is the of to the to the in the in his et include the and even or the geographical and made of the be to a on sources to the of is of what has called a to to with the The of the of the Americas in costume books be by the between two different of and representation of the accounts represented as by by practices and by that they as made they are and they This of them to the of the that Europeans the entire world that costume books It was the of that the of the Americas the of represented the of in a different they as they their and on their on their and the them of to their the of the century different of people these the of the in the and the part of the they of in the century through the of the by and and of from images in the and and their many The of the to be the to the view of the world as in such as have of the and of the expanding of the world in new ways of for the Americas a new that be into in the of the world. This be in two plates in Vecellio’s second dress of and and the from and that are images that in the part of his to the Americas and that include a and a of a and of the and of and of and two for had figure in the first edition of his published in In the that had received images of the that in that was for images of dress of the and other parts of the world less well The images by most by the and in the first of his in et from that had as a to and of the of published images in and in Principal Navigations the following In plates on By the time his figure from it had been in as in the the of figure in was as of and of the of or in several the most of which is that the figure is a The is in as is an in the by the that the is a European to the to a of and figure in a of the in Cesare Vecellio’s Habiti antichi et of and of the of with by of the of costume books is in their aim to the of entire they to a of and the increasingly of places in the world. In the case of the is an of the people also of a European in the of in costume books is the of Europeans and their of the of This is in the case of the in that in the second of the century was an in the of world and The images of the of the Americas in costume books are from the of European first encounters that the images from which they is to that the Americas are at the of costume books, they are the most lands from a of the world in also they are the most in They are the of the world also a of a human This was well by who a direct visual and sartorial between the of and the whose had from an therefore the of a human a understanding in the representation of his from two the in the his on the of the in the In a of such is that of European that of the of an is possible through an as in the image are by the of Europe that they as Renaissance have of as of here the the both their of understanding of a and their to their have European such as and these are in the of the at which the is of in Cesare Vecellio’s Habiti antichi et Why are costume books in understanding of the relationship between micro and global This has the argument that both and as well as and are and need to be the century was a of of their its and and most of to and might say the people in Costume books articulate sometimes with the of a world that is at the time to be and costume books the of they a relationship between and and between and far that is both geographic and They a of that is and The global is in in a relationship with the the individual figure a clothed at the of an whose ambition is to the entire world. such it is the specificity and for of that make a as in these books and in the of of Costume books to by such should be as or Costume books a view of the world that is and in which its people the The on and us to the that the between the of the locality and the of the global is in several Costume books in the of the local and the in the expanding horizons of the on what the relationship between the two might a of a new world of in Vecellio’s commonly considered the and most articulate costume book of the Costume books have to be to other Renaissance that range from to atlases and world They are ways of global and of Historians have the of and have analysis microhistorical methodologies. visual and material both in micro and global have to be into the This a relationship between and This visual allowed costume books to across all the of the world.
Source: Past & Present
DOI: 10.1093/pastj/gtz047
Author: Giorgio Riello
Institution: University of Warwick
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,402
OpenAlex ID: W2991348958