Luca Stefano Cristini

British Army uniforms in 1742 Luca Stefano Cristini

This illustrated "war" book was commissioned directly by William Augustus the Duke of Cumberland, the victor of Culloden, to realize a particular gift to his brother, King George II, and shows in 94 colour illustrations the uniform of all units and establishments of the British army in the 1742, some year before Culloden.
It was superbly built by the hands of the great British engraver and artist: John Pine!

Our copy derived from the original titled: "A representation of the clothing of His Majesty's Household and all the Forces upon the Establishments of Great Britain & Ireland 1742" preserved at NYPL in the files of Viskuezzen collection. The book shows 93 of the original 94 plates (92 soldiers in uniforms and a frontispiece). It show the uniforms and accoutrements of the Household Cavalry and the Horse Cavalry regiments, including the Carabineers and the Dragoons. It also includes the dress of the infantry corps as 1st Foot Guards (Grenadier Guards), the Coldstream Guards and the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards (Scots Guards). The line regiments are also fully covered, from the Queen's Regiment, the King's Regiment, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and all the other line regiments then established in the British Army. The last part of the book is devoted to the other corps as ten regiments of Marines, the Regiment of Invalids, the Gentlemen Pensioners and the Yeomen of the Guard. Each plate shows the uniform of the regiment in full, together with (where applicable) horse coverings and the colours of the regiment each painting has been restored from scratches and usury of time, in order to return the original as it looked like at the time of the original book.

In appendix we have add 10 plates more about works of R. Knotel and other artist, always on British uniform in same year.