1860 Bouasse-Lebel Chart of Armorial Crests of World Powers

This is a c. 1860 Bouasse-Lebel chromolithograph chart of armorial crests of the era's major world powers. The chart details seventy-six different crests. The world powers of the 19th century fill the first row: Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, along with five others. Many of the rest hail from German duchies and principalities, but countries such as Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium also appear, as do the Papal States. Mainly concerned with Europe, only a handful of non-European countries are represented. These include the United States, Persia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Japan, and Mexico. This chart is also notably an early example of commercial chromolithography.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Oftentimes, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired effect. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it emerged as the dominate method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography produced made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This chart was created c. 1860 and published by Bouasse-Lebel. Several editions of this chart were published during the 19th century, nonetheless, we have been unable to locate any other examples of this edition.