Album with hand-drawn jewelry designs.

Oblong 4to (280 x 175 mm). 52 ff. With 101 very neat drawings in ink, some hand-coloured (blue and yellow). Half morocco, gold-tooled word "album" on front cover. Model album for jewelry, probably from a Parisian luxury jeweler, with 101 ink drawings of jewelry models and designs, showing earrings, brooches, medallions, crucifixes, bracelets, hairpins, badges, clasps, and a diadem, made of silver, gold and platinum, using pearls and precious stones such as rubies and onyx. All drawings are evidently by the same artist. The first 59 drawings are numbered (1-59) and have French annotations in a neat handwriting, providing the name of the jeweler that produces the pictured models, the place where the jeweler is active, and the date when the model first appeared on the market. All jewelers mentioned are from Paris, except for Besson (from Lyon): Grand, Martincourt, Ballanche & Bourdier, Loussel et Vacherot, Galerie Vivienne, Goliat, Magasins du Boulevard des Italiens, and Magasins du Palais Royale. The dates range from 1868 to 1872. The numbered designs are accompanied by a short descriptive text with details about the material and sometimes the popularity of the respective model. The remaining designs without a number and text might be the jeweler's own designs. - In very good condition.