Orbis habitabilisis a rare and interesting book of illustrations of towns and costumes. In many cases a plate of atown is followed by one showing the costume of the inhabitants with the town in the background, as is shown in thisview of Paris. The images are excellent in design and execution, and wide-ranging and comprehensive in subject matter.Allard is considered to be the first compiler of a townbook to couple the plates this way.Orbis habitabiliscomprises 28views of European towns (including four costumes), 24 Asian towns (including 4 costumes), 24 African towns (includ-ing six costumes) and 24 American towns (including 8 costumes). The text for the book was in Latin by LudolphSmids, a Groningen doctor and antiquary who settled in Amsterdam in 1685. The plates are by Aldert Meyer andThomas Doesbergh, and Allard himself closely supervised the engraving of the plate
