LOCHER (Johann Emanuel). Recueil de portraits et Costumes Suisses les plus élégants, usités dans les 22 Cantons. Basel, Bern: J. P. Lamy, [ca. 1825-1830]. - In-4, 294 x 246 : (32 ff.), 28 plates (of 32). Dark blue half-chagrin, ribbed spine, gilt edges (contemporary binding). Colas, no. 872 (30 plates). - Hiler, Bibliography of Costume, p. 240 (30 plates). - Lipperheide, no. 911 (28 plates). - Lonchamp, Manuel du bibliophile suisse, no. 833 (28 plates). One of the finest works on traditional Swiss costumes. This collection should include 32 aquatint-engraved and finely hand-colored costume plates, depicting full-length portraits of Swiss girls. The plates are the work of Johann Emanuel Locher (1769-1815) and exist in two states, with and without landscapes. Each figure is mounted on brown cardboard, framed by two black fillets and protected by a serpente. Explanatory leaves give the name, state, origin and quality of the young woman depicted, as well as a description of her costume and township. In his preface, the publisher states that he wanted to offer "a collection of elegant costumes, used for Sundays and holidays in the twenty-two cantons of Switzerland [...]. For this purpose, I had two skilful and highly esteemed artists travel to the 22 cantons, not only to draw the most elegant costumes as correctly as possible, but also to make this work more interesting, and to select portraits of the most interesting youth of each respective canton, with a succinct and faithful account of their persons and conduct [...]. The drawings were engraved "at first in almost imperceptible lines, which must suffice only to preserve the exact likeness of each portrait, so that they can be considered as original drawings". The collection is divided into two parts, the first devoted to the 22 cantons, and the second to a supplement of 10 other costumes (only 8 are announced). Fine proof copy with landscapes, comprising 28 of the 32 required plates. The description and plate for the 13th and 21st cantons are missing, as is the plate for the 15th canton and the 3rd costume in the supplement. The latter two have been replaced by two other plates from another collection. These are: "Marianne Teroux, De la Bâtie au Canton de Genève" - "Mareily Schild, de Meyringen dans la Vallée d'Oberhasly, Canton de Berne" - "Louise Tascher, De Stalla, Canton des Grisons" and "Catherine Baenziger, Fille d'un Tailleur des environs de Herisau au Canton d'Appenzell". In addition, the first plate of the collection and the first plate of the supplement have been interchanged. Complete copies are very rare, and bibliographers mention only 28 or 30 plates. This copy has been enriched, in addition to the two plates replacing those of the 15th canton and the 3rd costume of the supplement, with 2 other beautiful figures bound at the end, probably also by Locher. Corners rubbed, a few freckles on the text leaves, a few tiny rubs to the plates, generally in the sky, trace of a bookplate on the first counterplate.