Photo-Album. Spiegel Verlag

NP: NP, 1946. Hardcover. vg. Duodecimo Oblong. 10 plates, 6.5 x 9" - Original bolted brown and patterned paper-covered boards. Photo-essay of the offices of Der Spiegel from the archive of Roman Stempka: Thirty impressive, beautifully composed b/w photographs (4 x 3 1/4"), reminiscent of the "Neue Sachlichkeit," depicting the original staff in the editorial offices of the German news magazine Der Spiegel glued onto stiff, light brown card stock. Starting with Gerhard R. Barsch, Roman Stempka, and Rudolf Augstein, the original trio who bought the license to publish in 1946, the album continues with a group photo of the editorial staff, Hans-Detlev Becker, Karlwerner Gies, Dr. Werner Hühne, Hans J. Toll, and Roman Stempka. The editors are featured on various other photographs as well as staff members from the archive, photo-processing, the accounting department, and of the printing press including the respective working environment. Names of the editors and staff members are handwritten below the photographs, credit under last photograph in handwriting "Foto, Reinh. Leggmann." Laid in an official Spiegel-Verlag, Hannover, envelope containing a negative (2 x 1 1/2") with printed caption: "Stalin in the spring of 1922, when he became General Secretary." Album and interior in overall very good condition. Augstein had been hired to publish the news magazine "Diese Woche" by the British Press Officers Seymor Chaloner, Harry Bohrer and Henry Ormond in 1946 to be modeled after the British "News Review" and the American "Time Magazine." Diese Woche was discontinued after 6 issues because it was too critical towards the Allied occupation forces but Chaloner assisted Augstein in getting the publishing license for a German magazine in 1946. The first edition of Der Spiegel was published on January 4, 1947.