Grosser Deutscher Atlas

Title

Grosser Deutscher Atlas

Description

Large and splendid title page from ‘Grosser Deutscher Atlas’ by Franz Johann Joseph Reilly, drawn by Vinzenz Georg Kininger and engraved by Karl Schütz. A sheet with wide margins.

c. 1795

Artist

Reilly (1766-1820)

Franz Johann Joseph von Reilly (1766 - 1820) Vienna. Franz Johann Joseph von Reilly was an Austrian publisher, cartographer and writer. He was born the son of the court master Johann Reilly. He initially worked in the civil service, but then devoted himself exclusively to geography. From 1789 to 1806, he produced the atlas Schauplatz der fünf Theile der Welt, which only covers Europe on its 830 sheets. After the Schul Atlas (1791-92) and the Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung (3 volumes, 1792-93), he published the first (complete) Austrian world atlas entitled Grosser deutscher Atlas from 1794 to 1796. In 1796, he produced the series Geschichtliche und bildliche Vorstellung der Regimenter des Erzhauses Oesterreich (Historical and Pictorial Presentation of the Regiments of the Archduke of Austria), and in 1799 the Allgemeine Post Atlas von der ganzen Welt (General Postal Atlas of the Whole World) - the first atlas of its kind in the world.

Historical Description

The title page is one of the most important parts of an atlas or book. It appears at the beginning of the book and describes the actual title and the context or subject of the book or atlas. The title page often shows the title of the work, the person or institution responsible for its intellectual content, and the imprint, which includes the name and address of the publisher as well as the date of publication. Further information about the publication is often printed on the back of the title page.The first printed books or incunabula had no title pages: the text simply began on the first page, and the book was often identified by its opening words – the incipit. Maps were usually published in atlases, and atlases were books with titles. Even here, title pages were individual works of art. A publisher emphasized the importance of a book by introducing it with a spectacular entrée.Usually, the images on an atlas title page referred to the subject matter: measuring instruments, mythological, astronomical, religious, scientific, and allegorical references and facts were combined in a composition that represented the pride of scientific and intellectual progress. An atlas title page is often no more than an outstanding artistic and expressive cartouche.