rather than

Here's a fairly odd sentence from Call Mr Fortune, written by HC Bailey in 1920:

Lucia Charlecote was so frail, of such a simplicity, that she looked rather like an angel in one of the primitive pictures than a woman.

"She looked rather like an angel" is fine for me, meaning "somewhat like an angel". But then I hit that "than", and the sentence derails. I can't use "rather ... than" like this. In fact, though I realize he means "more than" when he says "rather than", the sentence is deeply weird for me.

What's very odd, though, is I can reverse it (sort of). That is, I can use "rather than", but only as a unit:

Lucia Charlecote was so frail, of such a simplicity, that she looked like an angel in one of the primitive pictures rather than a woman.

Now, "rather than" doesn't have to be a unit. For instance, I can say "I'd rather be an angel than a woman" or "rather see an angel than a woman". But there we have a modal, and rather's in front of the verb, not after it - a modifier rather than a part of the complement.

And, of course, I can keep his information structuring by using "more ... than":

Lucia Charlecote was so frail, of such a simplicity, that she looked more like an angel in one of the primitive pictures than a woman.

What about you? Does his "she looked rather like an angel than a woman" work for you?