Leather Binding by Georg Ernst Friedrich Hulbe (1851–1917)
Hamburg & Berlin, dated 1887–1912. Rare and important custom leather binding by Georg Ernst Friedrich Hulbe, the foremost German bookbinder and leather craftsman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The piece is executed in richly worked leather and prominently features a Zionist Star of David, together with the dates 1887–1912, indicating a long-term commemorative or institutional commission.
Hulbe was a central figure of the Historicism and Art Nouveau periods in Germany. Beginning in Hamburg and later expanding to Berlin, his workshops produced bespoke leather bookbindings and a wide range of architectural and decorative leather objects, including writing cases, desk binders, furniture, wall coverings, screens, and ceremonial works, distinguished by deep embossing and gilded ornament.
His reputation was such that he was commissioned to produce major civic and aristocratic works, including the Golden Book of the City of Hamburg, the Golden Book of the City of Poznan, and the family tree of the Princely Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen family. Hulbe's works are represented today in major institutional collections, including the Reichstag in Berlin, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Princeton University Library.
At its height, Hulbe's enterprise was the largest of its kind in Germany, employing over two hundred craftsmen. In 1910, architect Henry Grell designed the celebrated Hulbe House on Mönckebergstraße in Hamburg as a combined studio, gallery, and showroom—an enduring monument to Hulbe's prominence in German decorative arts.
Measuring approximately 36 × 50 cm, this work stands as a significant example of Hulbe's commissioned leather artistry and is especially notable for its Jewish and Zionist symbolism within the context of Imperial Germany.
Estimated Value $200 - 300
Judaica
