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Folios are very tall books—15 inches or more—named according to their height by the printers. Elephant folios are up to 23 inches in height. Atlas folios, up to 25 inches. There are even double elephant folios, which can be up to 50 inches tall!
By the mid-19th century, folios were made with state-of-the-art printing technology instead of by hand. Larger sheets of paper and new roller presses could accommodate the creation of these oversized books.
Typically these folios were scientific and scholarly works intended for a very specialized audience, both because of the subject matter and the cost. James Audubon’s Birds of America is a classic example. Imagine these big books spread out on tables in private, wood-paneled libraries.
For more information about elephant folios, click here.
1822–1886, England
The Kafirs Illustrated: A Facsimile Reprint of the Original 1849 Edition of Hand-coloured Lithographs (detail)
Cape Town, South Africa: A. A. Balkema, 1974
Smithsonian Libraries
British artist George French Angas painted these two young Zulu dancers with remarkable accuracy more than 160 years ago. Their stance appears both realistic yet posed to show off their dress. The feather headdresses, beadwork, metal ankle rings, and waist garments and ornaments give us much detail about Zulu clothing and ornamentation in the 1840s.
The Kafirs Illustrated volume is typical of mid-19th-century folios with original prints based on watercolor paintings from firsthand observation. At 22 inches tall, this facsimile copy of the 1849 edition was published in 1974.
Derived from an Arabic word meaning infidel, the word kafir today is an offensive ethnic slur for blacks in Africa.
For more information about The Kafirs Illustrated, click here.
1810–1884, Germany
Maximillian Weidenbach
1823–1890, Germany (d. Australia)
Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien (Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia) (detail)
Berlin, Germany: Nicolaische Buchhandlung, 1849–56
Smithsonian Libraries
Amazingly, this chromolith (color print) of a 25th-dynasty (760–656 B.C.E.) stone relief rolled off the press more than 160 years ago. The colors are so fresh, it could have been yesterday.
In this mural from the rock-cut Temple of Mut at Jebel Barkal, Sudan, the sun god Amon-Ra sits on his throne receiving tributes from Pharaoh Taharqa and Queen Takahatamun. Behind Amon-Ra is Lady Mut, the mother of all gods, identified by her vulture headdress and double crown. She holds in her right hand the ankh, or key of life.
This atlas folio—31 inches tall—is one of a set of 12 that records hundreds of views of Nile River Valley tombs, temples, hieroglyphs, pharaohs, and gods. State-of-the-art printing technology married to cutting-edge archaeology.
For more information about Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien, click here.
