Abbildung der K.K. Oesterreichischen Armee
Vienna: W.W. Waniek, 1820. Item #06738
The Most Complete Early Lithographic Survey of the Imperial Austrian Army We Have Encountered
Thirty-Six Magnificent Contemporary Hand-Colored Lithographs of Every Branch
of the Habsburg Army, Complete with the Rare Color Chart, Dedication, and Six Regimental Tables
STEPHANIE, J., lithographer. Abbildung der K.K. Oesterreichischen Armee durch alle Waffengattungen enthält jedes Regiment, Corps und militair. Branche in freyen Gruppirungen nach der Natur gezeichnet einzeln dargestellt. Vienna: W.W. Waniek, [ca. 1820].
First edition. Large folio (16 1/8 x 13 3/4 inches; 410 x 350 mm.). Lithographed title, lithographed dedication leaf to Prince Schwarzenberg, one leaf Egalisirungs-Farbenmuster (the rare color chart and explanatory key), six sectional Bildliche Darstellung leaves containing detailed regimental and organizational tables, and thirty-six magnificent contemporary hand-colored lithographed costume plates. All leaves mounted on contemporary card (average leaf size 13 x 10 1/8 inches; 330 x 257 mm.). A few occasional very minor spots and trivial signs of handling, entirely expected in so large a plate book, otherwise an exceptionally fine, fresh, and remarkably complete copy.
Bound circa 1880 in handsome three-quarter crimson hard-grain morocco over richly marbled boards, covers decoratively ruled in gilt. Spine with five raised bands, compartments elaborately tooled and lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. With two engraved collector's bookplates on the front paste-down. An exceptionally handsome copy.
This magnificent publication ranks among the earliest and most ambitious lithographic surveys of the Imperial Austrian Army produced in the years immediately following the Napoleonic Wars. Issued by the Viennese publisher W.W. Waniek about 1820, it represents a comprehensive visual record of the reorganized Habsburg military establishment, illustrating every principal branch of service through carefully observed groups drawn directly from life.
Unlike most contemporary military costume books, Stephanie's work is far more than a series of uniform plates. Each of the six divisions is introduced by an extensive Bildliche Darstellung, providing a detailed synopsis of the regiments illustrated, including their commanding officers, dates of formation, recruiting districts, facing colors, and other organizational particulars. These tables, together with the rare Egalisirungs-Farbenmuster, or standardized color chart, transform the publication into a documentary survey of the Austrian Army rather than merely a costume book.
The Egalisirungs-Farbenmuster is one of the most interesting and elusive components of the work. It explains the standardized palette employed by the colorists and includes a comprehensive key to the abbreviations used throughout the publication, together with an extensive register of military orders and decorations appearing on the figures. Such explanatory leaves were frequently discarded by nineteenth-century owners after the costume plates had been removed for display or consultation, making their survival of particular importance.
The thirty-six superb lithographs are among the finest military costume plates produced in Vienna during the early nineteenth century. Each sheet depicts officers, cavalrymen, infantry, artillery, engineers, hussars, uhlans, grenadiers, pioneers, medical personnel, and other branches of the Imperial service in carefully composed groups, with extraordinary attention paid to distinctions of regiment, rank, equipment, and uniform color.
The contemporary hand-coloring remains remarkably fresh, vividly preserving the richness and complexity of the Habsburg military dress at the height of the Restoration period.
Originally issued in six separate fascicles, each bearing the sectional title Bildliche Darstellung der K.K. Oesterreichischen Armee aller Waffengattungen, complete copies are seldom encountered. The present example retains every component recorded by the standard bibliographies: the lithographed title, dedication, rare color chart, six regimental tables, and the complete suite of thirty-six hand-colored plates. The leaves remain mounted on their original contemporary cards, preserving the format in which the work was intended to be viewed.
The volume was later rebound, about 1880, in an exceptionally handsome continental binding of crimson hard-grain morocco and marbled boards, undoubtedly executed for an important collector or institutional library. Two engraved collector's bookplates on the front paste-down provide an attractive record of its subsequent provenance, including that of a nineteenth-century Dutch bibliophile.
Military costume books documenting the armies of the Napoleonic and Restoration eras have long occupied a central position in the literature of military history and costume. While the works of Martinet, Suhr, Bellangé, and Gropius are familiar to collectors, Stephanie's survey of the Imperial Austrian Army is considerably less often encountered and appears to have enjoyed a very limited circulation. It remains one of the most comprehensive visual records of the Austrian Army published during the first decades of lithography.
The rarity of the work is underscored by the apparent absence of complete copies in modern commerce. We have located no auction records, no copies currently offered for sale, and no readily identifiable institutional catalogue record for a complete example corresponding to the present copy.
Its exceptional state of preservation, complete bibliographical integrity, and handsome nineteenth-century binding combine to make it an outstanding survival of one of the rarest military costume books of the Restoration period.
References: Colas 2801; Hiler, p. 815; Lipperheide 2233.
Price: $17,500.00