Subject: France
Period: 1905 (circa)
Publication:
Color: Printed Color
Size:
24 x 31.8 inches
61 x 80.8 cm
This unusual promotional piece features a map of France surrounded by large illustrations of double-barrel shotguns. The detailed map is delineated by department and presents the road network, canals, railroads, resorts, and more with a legend beneath the title. The map was originally produced as an advertising piece by Emile and Cie Bernard of Liege, Belgium, when the company exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in 1900. This is a later edition that replaces the Bernard advertisement with that of gunsmith Paul Lardin in Bar-le-Duc. Lardin was known as the "armorer of the Emperor" and was the one-time director of the Societe Generale d'Armement. The advertisement notes the availability of Browning Auto-5, patented in 1900 and manufactured at Fabrique Nationale Herstal in Belgium beginning in 1902.
References:
Condition: B
Issued folding with short splits along the fold intersections, light offsetting at top left, and a small stain in the title cartouche. There is a stain in the bottom blank margin and punch holes in the left blank margin.