Album von Stuttgart und Umgegend / nach der Natur aufgenommen von C.M. Eckert und F. Brandseph 1875

This is the title page to Album von Stuttgart und Umgegend, made by Paul Neff in the mid-19th century. Its clean, crisp typography reflects the ascendance of industrial printing, a process that allowed for wider distribution of images and texts than ever before. The album itself, as the title makes clear, is a collection of cityscapes and landscapes in and around Stuttgart. This was a period of rapid industrialization in Germany, and one can imagine the social and environmental impact such growth had on the population. The album’s focus on natural scenery, as well as monuments of civic pride, suggests an attempt to balance progress with tradition, a tension in Germany and across Europe in this era. To better understand this album, scholars turn to local historical societies, municipal archives, and genealogical databases. Only through such study can we reveal the complex and changing dynamics of this place and time.