Booklet : Gedruckte Werte

Hermann Giesecke and Alphonse Devrient founded in 1852 the Typografisches Institut Giesecke & Devrient in Leipzig. On the first day of October G&D received an order for the printing of securities from the Kieritzscher Rübenzucker-Action-Verein (English: Kieritzsch Sugar Beet Company). It took only two weeks to deliver the 400 share certificates to the customer.

Gedruckte Werte is the title of the publication accompanying the exhibition with the same name at the Museum of the Printing Arts Leipzig. Besides interesting facts about the history of the bank note and securities printer Giesecke & Devrient, this work tells us how securities were designed and produced in the 19th and 20th century, and much more. 

Booklet from the exhibition Gedruckte Werte

• Title: Gedruckte Werte, in English: Printed Values
• Publisher : Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig, 2016
• ID : ISBN 978-3-9817257-1-1
• Languages : German
• Number of pages : 59
• Images : more than 40 color images (12 from shares and bonds)
• Index : no index

Chapters

KANN MAN VERTRAUEN DRUCKEN? AKTIEN ALS MEDIUM DER INDUSTRIEKULTUR, (freely translated) Can trust be printed ? Share certificates as a medium of industrial culture.

DIE HERSTELLUNG VON WERTPAPIEREN AM BEISPIEL VON AKTIEN, The production of securities, illustrated with share certificates 

GIESECKE & DEVRIENT - WERTPAPIERDRUCK IN LEIPZIG, Giesecke & Devrient - security printing in Leipzig 

IKONOGRAPHIE DER WIRTSCHAFT - DAS BILDPROGRAMM AUF WERTPAPIEREN, Iconography of economy - images on securities 

GELDÄHNLICHE PAPIER -  GELDWERTE DRUCK, Money alike papers - the printing of (other) values (such as tickets for the Olympic Games) 

The publication is written in German. Typical technical German terms related to the world of printing and business are used throughout the chapters, so this can be a challenge for non-German speakers, like myself. But a good dictionary, or Google Translate on your smartphone, can help you out. The effort is absolutely worthwhile. I absorbed the publication chapter by chapter right up to the end !

This  Berliner Aquarium 200 Thaler share (printer proof),
dated 1870, is one of the certificates on display.
More on this certificate in a follow up post.
image courtesy : Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig

The exhibition runs until 14 august 2016. The accompanying booklet is available from the Museum's shop at 8,80 € (please ask the museum for the shipment cost).

• More about the exhibition, see here 
• Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig, in German, in English 

F.L.