CncJialnllc 



Figure 18. — Outdoor winter dress lor men is 

 strongly influenced by military fashions. An 

 enormous Iringed baldrick, tied by a military scarf, 

 supports the diminutive dress sword. Wigs and 

 hats were comparatively small for the winter 

 1677-78. Issued with the Mcrcure Galant. 1678. 

 (Author's collection.) 



LofHc lit' Jcn/e .I'cruc 

 ioefje natr^- 

 Faiatuie iieFouU 



ILxnche Seree ae pujchr 

 If.j.ficJit' lie C/ufyrm^re 

 Jfen£heUe^ (ix" pouit ■ 

 Lfuiti^te Jc tLSj-u aiJi: 

 rUa/UriJixi de. b7-i.>rart 

 iu-ufv JDr lioiihij; 

 .i' pliicJw couteur 



lupe de piuc^ 

 •iTuie4JA~ cie feu . 



t)'ou~ rari'jjtlx' 

 ijriiruu' d^-nii-'llf 

 Or ct jifijefit — 



Jupoii'd^^ Srocji^t CLjle-urrdatya^ 

 horde' derrrixfw . 



Figure 19. — Lady in informal winter attire walks 

 to her coach wearing a flowered gold-brocaded 

 gown which has been caught back to show her 

 embroidered petticoat bordered with ermine. She 

 wears a black coif so that her hair will not be 

 disarranged. Issued with the Mcrcure Galant, 1678. 

 (Author's collection.) 



since the octavo publications ("Chez Claude Barbin 

 au Palais") were pirated almost immediately, and 

 impressions — all that I have seen are duodecimos — 

 appeared in Paris and Amsterdam ("Suivant la Copie 

 imprimee a Paris"). A single number of an English 

 translation, the Mercury Gallant, is in the British 

 Museum. 



The Mercure Galant was published sporadically from 

 1672 through 1674, with six numbers in all. In 1677, 

 it obtained a privilege and, with a dedication to the 

 Dauphin, took a new lease on life under the title Le 

 nouveau Mercure Galant. Thereafter, it flourished for 

 some years; the January-March number for 1677 was 

 followed by monthly parts, and on May 15, 1678, the 

 first supplementary {Extraordinaire) number was pub- 

 lished, containing an article on fashions illustrated 



with fashion plates. ^^ The magazine was addressed 

 to the ladies, and, in addition to a modicum of news 

 and war reports, it contained gossip, poetry, riddles, 

 songs with their music, and correspondence with 

 readers, some no doubt fictitious. It deserves full 

 credit for being the first modern-style magazine. 



The fashions for the winter 1677-78 (figs. 16-19) 

 may be followed in tlie pages of the Mercure Galant, but, 

 since these four fashion plates were also distributed 

 separately, their connection with it has often been 

 overlooked. The same is true of the large engraving 

 of the interior of a milliner's shop (fig. 20), the items 

 in which were numbered and described in the te.xt ol 



3< See J. L. Nevinson, "The 'Mercury Gallant' or European 

 Fashions in the 1670's," Connoisseur (1955) vol. 136, p. 87. 



80 



BULLETIN 250 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



