Description
Editions Thill s.a., [No date: circa 1980]. Wraps, 48 pp.; 22 cm, square format; text in English, German and Italian; illustrated with 23 full-page color plates of 19th-century views of Brussels, each faced by a black-and-white reproduction of a period Nels postcard or photograph. NELS monogram on title page; "Printed in E.E.C."
Condition & notes
In Good condition. Glossy covers: front with a color vignette of Brussels views in a cream panel framed in dark brown, rear with a colored reproduction of an 18th-century English plan of Brussels; light bumping and creasing to edges and corners, small nick at head of spine and upper front corner, light scuffing and some mottling to brown border of front cover. Perfect bound, binding tight. Pages lightly toned, light foxing at top edge of final blank leaves, otherwise unmarked. Picture book of Brussels landmarks from Editions Thill, successor to the Nels firm founded by Edouard Nels in 1898 and run from 1907 by Ernest Thill, one of the leading Belgian postcard publishers. Each spread pairs a colored view from the Van Looch (Van Loock) collection with a short history in three languages and a reproduction of an early 20th-century Nels postcard, several with stamps and postmarks. Views include the Porte de Hal, Hotel de Ville, Maison du Roi, Cathedrale Saint-Michel, Hotel des Etats generaux, Galeries Saint-Hubert, Palais Royal de Laeken, Porte de Schaerbeek, Porte de Louvain and Manneken-Pis.