Heraldry and the Arms of Prussia and Austria, Set of Three, circa 1910
€ 250
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
31 × 24.5 cm (12.2 × 9.6 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-12952-18
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
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the edges of one of the three sheets. All corners complete on every sheet. Center folds, as issued.
About this sheet
A set of three original antique chromolithographed plates from Meyers Grosses Konversations-Lexikon. They are three original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. The three plates are Twelve coats of arms showing the development of heraldic style from the medieval period to the modern; Seventeen crowned provincial shields around the Austro Hungarian double eagle; Prussian provincial arms around the great royal achievement. Each was printed in color by the Bibliographisches Institut in Leipzig and Vienna between 1906 and 1912.
All three 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 palette and a typeface; they differ in size or orientation, so each is framed to its own sheet. 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.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the edges of one of the three sheets. All corners complete on every sheet. Center folds, as issued.
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.
