Lefèvre-Utile French c1903 Celebrities Album of 48 Embossed Chromolithographs For Sale

This Belle Epoquealbumand collection of 48 chromolithographs were the \"piece de resistance\" advertising campaign of the world famous Lefèvre-Utile baking company, more commonly known as LU Biscuits, based in Nantes, France. I don\'t have enough photo slots to include individual pictures of each one but all 48 art prints are pictured (do use the zoom feature) as well as closeups of some of the embossed details. Thisalbumis like a Who\'s Who of the turn of the century: Sarah Bernhardt, Cleo de Merode, La Belle Otero, Luigi Loir, Anatole France and on and on.

Thealbummeasures about 14.5 by 10.5 inches. It contains 22 pages: title page, list of lithographs, 16 pages of 48 chromolithographs, 2 pages with 8 slots for more lithographs and the last page (21/22) boasts of their grand prize at the 1900 Paris Expo/verso blank. Each chromolithograph art print measures almost 3.75 by 6.75 inches. The design, the embossing, the colors: thisalbumis, as the French would say, \"incroyable\" (unbelievable.) Individual chromolithographs of stars like Bernhardt and de Merode sell for $80 and more.

The complete LU series features 89 luxurious celebrity autograph cards to collect: there are 48 here. These cards were comprised of a personality photograph, an illustration in connection with their craft (actor, writer, painter, dancer, explorer, composer, etc.) and an autograph text touting the merits of Petit-Butter LU cookies. Faced with the manufacturing difficulty which combined chromolithography, embossing and the installation of a photograph, the original printer Champenois (1886-1917) gave up after the first three and then Grossens printers took over the manufacturing. But it was H. Laas & Pécaud & Co. of Paris (1860-1910) who ended up producing more than half of the cards.

PRICE includes shipping via registered mail!