1295

(FRANZ JOSEPH I)

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
(FRANZ JOSEPH I)
(1830 - 1916) Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 and a German prince. His 68-year reign is the third-longest in European history. An indescribably spectacular and rare volume Virbis Unitis: Das Buch Vom Kaiser by Joseph Hoffman, Vienna, 1898, large folio. xxiv, 322pp., with illustrations by fifteen artists including Wiener Werkstatte co-founders Joseph Hoffman and Kolomon Moser. This massive tribute to Emperor Franz Joseph I includes three color plates by Moser lavishly ornamented with gold and various by Hoffman in what is certainly among the first examples of German Art Nouveau style. Our particular volume was given to noted artist Emil Fuchs by an unnamed person, and bears inscription noting such on the first free endpaper dated May 1901. Bound in full tan morocco leather with a two-piece decorative metalwork frame on the upper cover, with a deeply recessed center panel featuring a enamel-jeweled metal crown at the center within the frame of embossed painted laurel wreaths. Below the crown are the raised-metal and white enamel initials of the Emperor. A sculpted metal fore-edge clasp is anchored on the upper cover with blue and red enamel ornaments. Four brass-colored bosses on the lower cover prevent scuffing to the back cover. Slight browning and minimal wear, else fine.

Estimate: $3,000 - 4,000.

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Part I: Lots 1-979 - September 27th, 2012

Part II: Lots 980-1845 - September 28th, 2012