German Revolution of 1848: A large collection comprising 125 contemporary broadsides

Item Details

Berlin, various presses, 1848, broadsides, as originally issued.

Original editions, good to excellent condition.

From Pied Oxen Printers' collection of objects related to print and book history.

Sizes: Smallest = 6.25 x 13.0 inches (15.9 x 33.0 cm); largest = 20.0 x 31.25 inches (50.8 x 79.4 cm)

Condition: Generally very good to excellent, with expected age and fold toning, creases, edge chipping and minor losses, several mendable tears touching the text with no loss of print.

Illustrations: 44 of these broadsides include wood-engraved illustrations. 

A checklist of titles, including condition notes is available upon request.

Inventory: Bibliographical descriptions for each object, including German and English abstracts for most broadsides, has been completed and will be included with the collection. (See an example below.) 

Photos of select examples available upon request.

Additional information:

Typical of this form of communication, these broadsides were letterpress-printed on thin inexpensive papers. Despite the effort and skill that went into producing them, the printed sheets were in the moment, ephemeral, and not meant to survive. Thus, surviving examples are extremely rare, especially in this condition.

Apart from their obvious historical interest, the these broadsides uniquely reflect the typography of a time—just a few months in 1848-49—and a place, Berlin. Particularly noteworthy is the use of the German style of black-letter known as fraktur, a style of types associated with the German language and printing, at the moment when the modern German state was forming. 

Broadsides printed in Berlin during the German Revolution of 1848 were influential in shaping how the literate population perceived current events. Printers rose to the occasion with inspired typography and illustrations, satire and caricature. 

This also happens to be the historical moment when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were engaging in events to connect their theories with practice.

One example of broadside descriptions:

• Ach Jotte doch! Nu is et leider doch losjejangen! Un recht sehreken : eene recht traurige Betrachtung von Ullo Bohmhammel, Vize-Jefreiten bei de Börgerwehr .
  13.375 x 19.625 inches (34.0 x 49.9 cm). 
  (wer): Drucker: J. Draeger; Verleger: Louis Hirschfeld.
  (wo): Berlin, Deutschland.
  (wann): Undatiert.
  Mit einer Illustration.
  Information: Satirische Betrachtung Albert Hopfs auf die Auseinandersetzung zwischen Arbeitern und Bürgerwehr am 16. Oktober 1848. (Albert Hopf's satirical view of the dispute between workers and vigilante groups on October 16, 1848.)