Costume of the lower orders of the metropolis
A London trade-costume book published by Samuel Leigh around 1820, presenting hand-coloured figures of working people and street traders of the capital for a general readership. The pictures show full-length standing figures labelled with their occupations, such as a post-man, a kettle mender and a milk seller, each in regional working dress with tools, carrying yokes, buckets or cases. A designer could take the plain, economical hand-coloured line work and the period clothing silhouettes as reference for vintage trade characters.
