Books: To All Appearances

THE BOOK OF COSTUME (two volumes, 958 pp.) — Mi Ilia Davenport — Crown ($15).

The first of the 2,778 illustrations in these volumes shows King Or-Nina with his family, neatly gotten up in the latest Sumerian style of 3,000 B.C., i.e., bare feet and chest, a rather hefty skirt made out of hanks of wool, and a basket fitted snugly on his head. One of the last illustrations shows President Lincoln receiving at the White House in 1865.

To filling the gap between the Sumerian palace and the Civil War White House Millia Davenport devoted seven years. The result of her labor...

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