A rare collection of Frederic L. Milton's 'Confidential Reports of Paris Collections', 1954 to 1960, twenty two folios containing printed reproductions of pen and ink sketches showing the highlights of the major couture house seasonal collections including Dior, Ricci, Gres, Balenciaga, Givenchy, de Rauche, Griffe, Patou, Fath, Chanel, Balmain, Dessès, Cardin, Heim, Manguin, Patou, Schiaparelli, each with approx 20-25 pages covered with around ten designs per page, 31 by 46cm (22) Frederic Milton ran a subscription service for the American fashion industry. His drawings were accurate line-for-line copies of the couture originals. He achieved this by paying a network of in-house spies and then charging each client initially $1000 per season. When this finally came to light, each couturier identified his/her own designs and a prolonged lawsuit ensued. See 'Balenciaga', Marie Andree Jouve and Jacqueline Demornex, 1989, p63.

Condition: generally good, some of the paper covers need re-stapling, edges have curling, dog ears. 1954 1 pad - Spring, 1955 2 pads (Autumn complete), 1956 4 pads (Spring and Autumn complete), 1957 3 pads - Spring, first pad only, (Autumn complete); 1958 4 pads (Spring and Autumn complete), 1959 4 pads (complete, one of the spring pads is heavily creased down one edge and two images have been cut out, Aug 1959 Ricci cut out, Feb 1959 is quite creased and Cardin design cut out, 1 page has a tear and 1 Lanvin cut out) and 1960 4 pads (complete year, 1st and 2nd Spring pads each has one sketch cut out, Feb 1960 has 1 Cardin has been cut out).