Allard, C., Orbis habitabilis oppida et vestitus, centenario numero complexa. - Des bewoonden waerelds steden en dragten, in een honderd-getal begreepen. With double page colored title leaf and 99 double page colored copper plates (of 100) by T. Doesburgh (views) and A. Meijer (costumes). Amsterdam, C. Allard no date [around 1695]. Contemp. calf (restored). Small folio. 7 ll.

Fauser p. XXII. - Phillips/Le Gear 5385 (with list of plates). - Hiler p. 18. - Hollstein I, 24, 53. - Not in Lipperheide and Colas as well as the usual Americana bibliographies. - Only edition .
Magnificently colored and well-preserved copy of the sought-after city book. Of highest rarity, only three copies can be found in the online catalogs of the large libraries (BSB, BL, Libr. of Congress).
"In the long series of town-books, the illustration of topography and of social life had gone hand-in-hand ever since Georg Braun .. [Carel Allard was] the first editor of a town-book to couple topographical plates and corresponding costume-plates . In his collection, twenty-three of the subjects (making 46 plates) are represented by such pairs, the costumed figures in the second plates being backed, in all cases but three, by a reduced version of the same view as that presented, on a larger scale, in the first plate. Of the remaining 54 plates, 36 are views of towns, and 18 are costume pictures or characteristic 'genre' groups. - The 100 numbered plates are executed in a free style with noticeable bravura , using line-engraving and etching in combination. Of the costume-plates 36 are signed by Meijer, and the other five are almost certainly by him. Twenty views have Doesburgh's signature, and the remaining 39 are engraved in a style and with decoration indistinguishable from those of his signed plates. - .. there is little reason to doubt that its engravers worked under Allard's direction, if not in his shop, and that he imposed on the collection the unity and individuality which distinguish it. " (R. A. Skelton on the facsimile edition 1966).
With views of (& partly with costumes from): Acapulco, Alexandria, Algiers, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Archangelsk, Bantam, Barbaodos, Cairo, Cape Hope, Colombo, Congo, Constantinople, Copenhagen, Cracow, Gdansk, Havana, Hudson Bay, Isfahan, Djakarta, Jerusalem, Leiden, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Mexico, Mozambique, New York, Panama, Paris, Pernambuco, Potosí, Prague, Rome, Rotterdam, Santo Domingo, San Juan, Surinam, Smyrna, Stockholm, Tientsin, Tripoli, Tunis, Venice and Vienna.
Lacking the costume plate for New York (replaced by a colored and detailed re-drawing). - Margins somewhat stained in places, isolated minimal marginal blemishes. Spine and edges restored, plates hinged at a later point. All in all fine copy, the broad-margined plates in fresh colors are mostly clean.

Not in Lipperheide and Colas and the respective Americana bibliographies. Only edition. Extremely rare much sought-after town book by C. Allard, only three other copies in the large libraries (BSB, BL, Libr. of Congress). With double page colored title leaf and 99 double page colored copper plates (of 100) by T. Doesburgh (views) and A. Meijer (costumes). Restored contemp. calf with gilt spine. - Lacking the costume-plate of New York, replaced by an neatly drawn and colored copy. Slightly stained in places of margins, with isolated marginal defects. Spine renewed (using the old material) and lower edges restored, plates hinged at a later point. All in all fine copy, the broad-margined plates in fresh colors are mostly clean.