Ten Kings’ Clothes: Royal Danish Dress, 1596–1863

This big, beautiful book is very well researched. The copious illustrations and archival information are fascinating. It is unfortunate that so few extant garments exist, but that can't be helped. Where the original garments do still exist there are clear photos. It was also a pleasure reading about some of the eccentricities of the Danish kings.

I bought this book because it specified that it had pattern drafts for each garment. The Royal Rosenborg website did have complete pattern drafts years ago, but they are no longer accessible online. I thought they would be included in this 800 page, 7 lb. book-but the only drafts are for a straight collar, an oval cape, a t-shaped banyan & 1 coat plus breeches ensemble. The last one is all of 2 inches square! The photographs are large, gorgeous & detailed, but if you are looking for the drafts of the garments, you're out of luck. I suspect that the more complex drafts which were formerly on the website were excluded due to the copyright violators which seem to be rampant on venues like Etsy. I've found Janet Arnolds famous garment drafts from her Patterns of Fashion series being sold on Etsy under the name of a seller who does NOT own their copyright. It's a shame that the 'bad apples" who are just out to make a buck mess things up for the rest of us.

The content is very interesting. At times either the photography or printing is strangely poor. There are loads of illustrations, but a number of them seem blurred or poorly photographed eg. p131. p 196.Other than that a lovely book and I like that it is not printed on a very glossy paper.