Reilly, Franz de Cavalerie autrichienne 1796

In 1796, publisher and cartographer Franz Johann Joseph von Reilly (17661820) published a work in Vienna on the uniforms of the Austrian army. This historical overview of the regiments of the Austrian ruling house Geschichte und bildliche Vorstellung der Regimenter des Erzhauses Oesterreich (History and pictorial representation of the regiments of the Archduchy of Austria) comprised 168 plates depicting the uniforms of the various regiments of Emperor Franz II of Habsburg. Each engraving was hand-coloured and accompanied by a short caption indicating the date of foundation or origin of the regiment and its changing names over the years. This collection, which was available at the time at the Reillychen geographischen Verschleiss Komptoir in Vienna, is now very rare. It is an important contemporary source of images relating to the wars of the French Revolution and the First Empire. The fifty plates depicting the cavalry regiments of the Holy Roman Empire (two carbine regiments, nine cuirassier regiments, eight dragoon regiments, six light cavalry regiments, one ulan regiment and nine hussar regiments) and the general staff are reproduced here in colour with their original captions in German. These captions have been translated and supplemented for better understanding.