THE GREAT FIRE OF HAMBURG [HAMBURG.]
A sammelband of material relating to the Great Fire of Hamburg.
A fine and unusual volume of materials relating to the Great Fire of Hamburg of May 1842, comprising a long article by Joseph Mendelssohn published over five issues of Der Komet, special issues of several periodicals devoted to the disaster, a rare poem by Margarethe Hedwig Hülle, and maps of the city before and after the fire. The Great Fire, which started early in the morning on 5 May and raged for four days, destroyed a quarter of the inner city and killed fifty-one people, with the loss of many churches and the town hall. It (or rather its aftermath) was the first historic event to be recorded using the new art of photography, and the enormous losses born by insurers were instrumental in the development of reinsurance.
Read more
