About the Cover Illustration

The illustration on the cover of C++ Concurrency in Action is captioned “Habit of a Lady of Japan.” The image is taken from the four-volume Collection of the Dress of Different Nations by Thomas Jefferys, published in London between 1757 and 1772. The collection includes beautiful hand-colored copperplate engravings of costumes from around the world and has influenced theatrical costume design since its publication. The diversity of the drawings in the compendium speaks vividly of the richness of the costumes presented on the London stage over 200 years ago. The costumes, both historical and contemporaneous, offered a glimpse into the dress customs of people living in different times and in different countries, making them come alive for London theater audiences.

Dress codes have changed in the last century and the diversity by region, so rich in the past, has faded away. It’s now often hard to tell the inhabitant of one continent from another. Perhaps, trying to view it optimistically, we’ve traded a cultural and visual diversity for a more varied personal life—or a more varied and interesting intellectual and technical life.

We at Manning celebrate the inventiveness, the initiative, and the fun of the computer business with book covers based on the rich diversity of regional and theatrical life of two centuries ago, brought back to life by the pictures from this collection.