JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post 

This detail of a couer du sacre/hand of justice was a sceptre used in coronation in the years shortly after the reign of Charlemagne (d 814) and Charles le Chauve (d. 877, and sounding so much nicer than Charles the Bald). It is the last illustration on a 53-item engraved page displaying ancient crowns and tiaras in the very useful Comment Discerner les Styles du VIIIe au XIXe Siecle…etudes sur les formers et les Variations dans le Costume et la Mode, by L(eon) Roger-Miles, volume III, and published in Lyon around 1900.  Roger-Miles (1859-1928) was a fastidious presenter, and over the course of his work illustrated several thousand items of clothing and accoutrement. The reason I like this book so much I think was Roger-Miles’ success in arranging all of these bits on relatively limited space, and doing so in a clear, articulate, and artistic manner.  Here’s the full page of illustrations from which the sceptre was taken:

[This is not the cleanest scan, but it is a thick book, and doesn’t want to be opened too broadly…]

 Even though there is a lot of material and many drawings on this sheet, there is still a very good amount of clean, unused space.