Water Plants, Temperate and Tropical, Pair of Meyers Plates, circa 1910

€ 115

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1906-1912
Publisher: Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna
Technique: Chromolithograph
Coloring: Printed color
Sheet size: 16 × 24.5 cm (6.3 × 9.6 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-12952-51

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

Noticeable uneven toning on some sheets. Handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Scattered foxing in the margins of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of one of the two sheets.

About this sheet

A set of two original antique chromolithographed plates from Meyers Grosses Konversations-Lexikon. They are two original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. The two plates are A temperate pond margin with native water plants in flower; A tropical water scene with Victoria regia, lotus, papyrus and mangrove. Each was printed in color by the Bibliographisches Institut in Leipzig and Vienna between 1906 and 1912.

Both come from Meyers Grosses Konversations-Lexikon, the sixth edition of the great German encyclopedia, published in Leipzig and Vienna by the Bibliographisches Institut between 1906 and 1912, and each was bound in beside the article it illustrates. They share the format, typeface and palette of that edition, which is why they belong together. The sixth edition ran to more than twenty volumes and several hundred plates, and the colored plates were the showpiece of the whole undertaking. The Bibliographisches Institut ran one of the largest lithographic works in Europe, with its own draftsmen and its own color presses, and printed each plate from a separate stone for every color.

A set like this reads as a deliberate collection rather than as a decorative accident. The sheets share a format, a palette and a typeface, so a single frame specification covers all of them and the group hangs square. The modest size suits a simple frame with a wide mat, and a pair or a run of three works particularly well in a study, a kitchen, a consulting room, a hallway or a narrow wall where one large print would be too much.

Noticeable uneven toning on some sheets. Handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Scattered foxing in the margins of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of one of the two sheets.

These are original antique prints, not modern reproductions. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.