Locations of events.

Zurich didn’t have a standing army, instead, the city had a citizen militia that mastered the difficult discipline of artillery. The so-called “Gesellschaft der Constaffleren und Feuerwerker” (Society of Constables and Ordnance Technicians) was responsible for the militia and issued wonderful single-leaf prints on the occasion of the New Year. These prints tell us what you needed to know in early modern times to be a successful artilleryman.

The first World’s Fair was the first international exhibition showcasing industry and commerce, and a promotional event for international free trade. The German Customs Union commissioned a report on the event covering 2,522 pages.

The figure of Carmen known from the opera is not an invention by Georges Bizet, but Prosper Mérimée. In 1947 the female artist Frey-Surbeck created the illustrations for our luxury edition of his work and shows us how the role of the woman changed in the 100 years since Mérimée.

Who would have thought that the roots of American comic books could be found in Switzerland? The Geneva educationalist Rodolphe Töpffer created picture stories that even fascinated Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The detailed realism of his pictures helps us to catch a true-to-life glimpse of him and his students.

Nowadays, the Suez Canal is a main artery of the global economy. When its construction began, people were fascinated by the project – but there was hardly anyone who wanted to invest money, as today’s book shows.