MOWABLE
02/1422 Volume
Number 1
G. Léwensohn
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Childrens Books
Biedermeier Paper Engineered "Friendship" Cards
Rosie Temperley
Edinburgh, Scotland
Pictorial cards of a particular style made in Austria and other central and northern European countries, primarily (but not exclusively) in the early part of 19% century, are popularly
known to collectors, dealers, and researchers as " "Biedermeier cards. For a while, I was under the impression that Biedermeier" was perhaps the name of a printer or
publisher of these cards but this assumption was entirely misplaced. I will start with an explanation of it in case others, too, are unfamiliar with the term. Biedermeier is a melange of the German adjective bieder" meaning plain or unpretentious, and "meier," a very common German surname. A Biedermeier is a caricature for a somewhat comic but also very ordinary and simple man.
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Fiirth
Jo Tisinger Vintagepopupbooks.com
For those of us interested in the historical details of movable books, we owe a great deal to the legacy of G. Léwensohn and his family. Theirs is a complex and memorable story of triumph and tragedy a story that deserves to be told. The G. Léwensohn company of Fiirth was a prolific publisher, printer, and lithographer that operated in Bavaria during the 19° and early 20°
century.
German
chromolithographers, mostly based in Bavaria, came to dominate the trade with their low-cost,
high-volume
quality
productions. Léwensohn was the largest and most prolific.
Fairy Tales for children The company was founded by Gerson Léwensohn (1817-1871) in 1844 at Star Road 19 in Fiirth Bavaria, Germany. He started out as a one man copper plate printer producing pictures sheets, coloring, and picture books. He added lithography in 1859. There is evidence, however, from earlier references, that he and his Father Isaac (1777 1884) were doing copper plate printings as early as 1838 before Gerson opened his shop on Star Road. Gerson had five brothers and sisters, none of whom were involved in owning the business. -
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Card Before
Card After
Gerson and his wife Helene (vee Zenner) (1821-1914) had two sons, Bernhard (1849-1910) and Theodore (1853 1931), and one daughter Clementine (1847-1923). Although the boys helped out in the shop while growing up, Gerson did not bring his sons into the business full-time until each had graduated from high school. Gerson died when his boys were only twenty-two and eighteen. His widow Helene ran the family business until the boys were experienced and old enough to take over. Helene's great granddaughter Anne Marie later described her as "A woman with strong morals." The boys were smart, educated, and had learned a hard work ethic and those strong morals from their parents. In 1876 they were fully running the company and bought a steam powered Schnellpresse "Quick Press*,"' a lithographic press, in order to print by machine rather than by hand. -
By the end of the 19" century, the conservative artistic
style of the period, 1815-1848, was looked down upon as lacking originality and excitement and Biedermeier was then used to describe this period of art a transitional period between the Neo-Classicism of the 18" century and the romanticism of the latter part of the 19" century. Today Biedermeier is a more neutral adjective applied not only to art but to the whole lifestyle of the Germanic countries between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolutions of 1848.There is now a greater appreciation of the Biedermeier way of life and of the art style and also an awareness of its qualities, now regarded as an important part of the cultural heritage of the Germanic peoples. -
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