|
|
| 
| | Naturselbstdrucke, Specimens d'Art Graphiques de l'Imprimerie Imperiale a Vienne, 1850 - 1854 | | Specimens d'Art Graphiques de l'Imprimerie Imperiale a Vienne (Specimens of the Imperial Printing Institute in Vienna). 105 plates divided in sections by different printing techniques, stamp of Count Trapani on several pages. Folio (55 x 41 cm). Original bordeaux full leather (edges rubbed), metal corners (1 missing), 2 brass clasps, gilt-stamped title on spine, edges gilt, pink silk end-papers (slightly soiled). Vienna, K. u. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1850 - 1854. | | |
| Losnummer: 4061
Very rare and attractive early compilation of unusually large and brilliant nature prints and other printing techniques, showing a wide selection of objects and subjects. The different sections of plates include the following printing techniques: woodcut (37); steel and copper engravings (4); miscellaneous, including 2 photographs (1850); 2 glass prints and 2 others; nature prints of the following: lace and fabric (10); etched stones (11); fossils (3); plants, flowers and leaves (20); mosses (7); miscellaneous (7). Unique in this form.
Already in the17th and 18th century, and earlier, simple impressions or brass rubbings of various plants and other nature objects were produced. The technique of "nature printing" (Naturselbstdruck) reached its height in the 19th century and its realistic reproduction of detail can be compared to that of photography. As of 1849 very fine impressions of polished and etched agate stones were produced in the K. u. K. Hof und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna. Under Alois Auer's direction these attempts were expanded in the early 1850s to include an increasing number of nature objects, especially plants. These were then pressed into polished lead plates in which they left a fine negative imprint. These plates could already be used to make prints. Higher editions were made from identical copper plates which were produced using the galvanic process to form them from the lead plates. Such prints were published in scientific periodicals, but a few richly illustrated opulent albums, such as the one offered here, were also produced, which are among the great incunabula of mid-nineteenth century book printing. This collection of nature prints is undoubtedly one of the earliest examples of this printing technique and was not commerically distributed. No other identical copy is known in any public library. The fact that this album belonged to the Count of Trapani is not surprising as his family was closely connected with the Austrian Habsburgs. – Some plates with light foxing, section with lace with stronger foxing, otherwise excellent impressions in very good condition.
Provenance: Francesco Luigi di Paola di Borbone, Count of Trapani (1827-1892).
Lit.: Peter Heilmann. Die Natur als Drucker. Naturselbstdrucke der k. u. k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien. Dortmund 1982 (with comprehensive bibliography).
| | |
Veranstaltungshinweise:
Am 03.12.2014 104. Auktion: Fotografie des 19. - 21. Jahrhunderts, Fotobücher | | |
Schätzpreis: 4.500,- EURO
| | |
Zurück © Galerie Bassenge KG, Berlin |
| | 
|
|
|
