Historical Images of Europe from the Austrian National Library
This collection comprises 55 portfolios of around 3,900 prints. Items include topographical recordings, images of cities, villages, buildings, architecture, landscapes and pictures of natural events from the areas of the former Austrian crown-lands, but also from modern day Germany, Italy, France, England, Spain, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
Different European landscapes, cities, buildings and topographical regions are depicted and collected in a geographical order. There are prints, colored prints (lithographs, etchings, pen and ink drawings, hand drawings, copperplates, photographs etc.), gouache paintings and photographs. Most prints date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Furthermore, the collection was part of the private ‘Fideikommiß’ Library of the Habsburg family which became part of the Austrian National Library after World War I.