La Mode Pratique. Fashion Plates, La Mode Pratique, 1895-1900, 235 héliogravures by Fortier-Marotte (2 bound volumes). Paris: Hachette, 1895-1900. [6199]
Two volumes, half leather with green cloth boards, 16 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches, raised bands to spines, "Fashion Plates" and the years for each volume in gilt to spines, some scuffing to binding but no cracks. Volume I. has 113 color plates, the first 83 are printed on one side only, the rest have the color plate on front, half-tone illustrations on back. Volume II. has 122 color plates, each with half-tone illustrations on back. Light offsetting to some plates from the half-tones. 235 héliogravures by Fortier-Marotte. Very good. Hardcover.
Six years of fashion plates from La Mode Pratique, a French fashion magazine started in 1891, which featured full-color héliochrome plates of the latest Paris styles.
"The first fashion photographs appeared in 1892 in the French periodical La Mode Pratique." - Danielle Hand, The Evolution of Fashion Photography online.
Heliochrome was an early process of color photography and these plates in La Mode Pratique are some of the earliest examples extant. The process was developed in France beginning in 1868 and by 1883 an improved version enabled La Mode Pratique to employ this color process in stunning fashion plates. These are among the earliest fashion photographs known to exist.
