Lithograph. Clermont and Thiers. Facsimile of the mid-19th century with engravings of the "Herbalist Guillaume de ...

Lithograph. Clermont and Thiers. Facsimile of the mid-19th century with engravings of the "Herbalist Guillaume de revel".
France, Moulin. Royal Library, mid-19th century. Two engravings on one sheet; size 49.5 x 32 cm. the Sheet is worn and yellowed around the perimeter; rare temporary spots; a trace of moisture on the upper edge; in the lower right corner of the printer's Congreve: "P. A. Desrosters fils a Mouline. L`ancien Bourbonnais.".

In the upper field of the sheet - Clermont-Ferrand. 

The capital of Auvergne was a major center of the land of the Gauls before the arrival of the Romans. The Greek historian Strabo mentions it as Names. The counts of Auvergne tried unsuccessfully to take Clermont from the churchmen and make it the capital of their lands. Desperate to achieve their goal, they founded a second city nearby — Montferrand. For centuries, Montferrand competed with Clermont, until it was finally relegated to the status of its suburb. The twinned city was named "Clermont-Ferrand".

In the lower-Thiers.

The town was settled in the 10th century, when Malfred (granddaughter of the count of Auvergne) ordered the construction of a castle and Church, which became known as Église Saint-Genès de Thiers. In 1371, the Barony of Thiers passed to the lords and then to the Dukes of Bourbon.

These facsimiles, created by drawing the original through transparent paper and then engraving on metal or wood and lithographing, are one of the few reproductions of revel's engravings outside of the Herbarium.

["L'armorial d'auvergne" de Guillaume Revel is a common handwritten coat of arms of the nobles of the provinces of Auvergne, Bourbonnais and Forez, created in the middle of the XV century for Charles I de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne, count of Forez and others (1401-1456).

The original manuscript on parchment in large format in-4°, unfinished, consists of 253 leaves and is in the national library of France under the symbol Fr. 22297; there are several old partial copies.

Under the direction of Wilhelm revel, several draftsmen made field notes and research before the drawings were handed over to the workshop, so this is a collective effort. 

This is not only about the image of the coats of arms and shields of the lords who owned the fiefdoms of the Dukes of Bourbon, but also about the heads of these seigneurs with castles drawn in their urban and natural environment, with landscapes and rural residents. 

Images of buildings and landscapes are considered quite realistic, despite the application of certain conventions, such as excessive resizing of stately buildings or some symbolic elements that were given special attention. Thus, the herbarium is a source of great value for knowledge about urban buildings and ensembles of the late middle ages, especially for those that disappeared or changed greatly in the following centuries.]