Wien, Alfred Hölder, 1889. Large 8vo (28.0 x 18.5 cm). 92 pp.; 80 text engravings, ten lithographed plates. Original printed wrappers.

A finely illustrated work, written and illustrated by the German painter Alois Raimund Hein (1852-1937). He "studied Semitic studies, German studies and geography at the University of Vienna from 1881 to 1885. After receiving his doctorate (1885) he continued his studies in Strasbourg, but returned to Vienna in 1887 to work as a volunteer at the Court Museum of Natural History. In 1889 he became a research assistant and in 1894 an assistant. In 1901 he was appointed assistant curator at the Court Museum and qualified as a professor at the University of Vienna for general ethnology, which he had devoted himself to more and more for several years, as well as to Austrian ethnology. H. carried out ethnographic research among the Czechs, studied European museums and collected ethnographic material in the Austrian Alpine countries. In 1894 he founded the Association for Austrian Folklore with M. Haberlandt and in 1895 the Museum of Folklore in Vienna. His particular ethnological interest was in the area of ​​ornamentation, including the ornamentation of the Slavs, the Dayaks of Borneo and the artistic design of Indonesian sword handles. Here, H. placed emphasis on extensive ethnographic comparisons. He considered ethnography to be an essential basis for philology" (Deutsche Biographie). Contained in the Annalen of the K. K. naturhistorische Hofmuseum. Rear wrapper repaired, otherwise a very good clean copy of the original edition from 1889. Rare.