Bibliography (code [neu])

Last modified: 2002-06-11 by antonio martins
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As far as I know, there was only one edition of the album, but the album itself has no flags in it, only bordered spaces with (for most, but not all of the spaces) an indication as to what card belonged there. The purchaser bought it at a very modest price (maybe even zero, though I don’t think so). Then with each pack of Massary cigarettes purchased, you got a flag card (I don’t know if they were packed together with the actual cigarettes or not). As a result, flags which came into existence later (or perhaps, occasionally, flags that Neubecker discovered later) could be put in either instead of, or in addition to, the original ones. Those cards were marked with an "a" in addition to the number of the flag replaced. In addition, a few received numbers in extension of their series (e.g. if the series originally contained 10 flags, they may be numbered 11). Since the table of contents had references only to the original plan, these can be spotted. The album is certainly no earlier than 1926, since the table of contents refers to President Hindenburg’s decree about flying the Imperial Kriegsflagge on the anniversary of the Battle of Jutland.
Norman Martin, 06 Feb 2001

The album was published first in 1929, but in several slightly different editions. Not only are picture known with corrections labelled as pictures ...a, ...b and ...c. There are also corrected picture cards without number changing [q.v. for example the Mistaken Lübeck State Ensign 1921-c.1926]. For a complete album with all picture cards published you have to collect at least 1071 cards (the number I know). A second album followed, it was subtitled "Nachtrag" and had series 79-113 with 380 picture cards, of which only 126 were published.
Ralf Stelter, 7 Feb 2001

916 cards officially published, but number of cards rose to about 1030 or even more considering all corrections and variations (some cards had numbers like 30, 30 [new], 30 a, 30 b, 30 c etc.). Several variations of this album have been published. The first version was an album for 300 cards only.
Ralf Stelter, 25 Feb 2001

256 flag images of outstanding graphical quality, drawn by Ottfried Neubecker himself. Mostly military colours of the regiments of the different states making up the German Empire 1871-1918, but also all the standards of the ruling families in those states. The book itself has no date, other sources quote the date as 1921, but Neubecker himself gives 1933 in his own Fahnen und Flaggen [neu39a]. There were several editions of the book, for instance by M.T. (Danzig). Possibly some were titled Berühmte Fahnen Deutscher Geschichte.
Santiago Dotor, 12 Jun 2001

Concerning the author, there is indeed no mention of him in the book.
Ivan Sache, 11 Nov 1997

The actual author was Ottfried Neubecker, prominent heraldist and vexillologist who was responsible for not only that book but many of the German cigarette cards / albums of flags from the 1930’s as well as other flag references. He also wrote the book Heraldry — Sources Symbols and Meaning [neuxx1], which was the companion book to Whitney Smith’s 1975 FTTAAATW [smi75c].

Neubecker probably did not consider himself as “nazist”. He had done significant work for his government until he married a jew, then he essentially became a non-person to the Nazi regeime. He couldn’t hold any official contracts with the government. It must have caused major heartburn to the Kriegsmarine when they realized that their government had ostracized the only person qualified to write the kind of detailed flag reference that the German Navy demanded. So they paid Neubecker “unofficially” (and probably quite clandestine) to do the work. The result was a milestone of vexillology.

Nick Artimovich, 11 Nov 1997

An excellent little book containing 438 flags illustrated in a very realistic (“flying-in-the-wind”) manner and classified according to their characteristics («Revolutionary Flags», «Cross Flags», «Banners-of-Arms», «Flags of Chiefs of State» etc.) with one page of text and an opposite page with flags for each sort. Also a very good glossary of (German) flag terms and a superb bibliography section.
Santiago Dotor, 22 Mar 2000

Facsimile edition of [neu39] with corrections and additions; for some inconsistencies between the two editions see [zna97]; Das Grosse Flaggenbuch (The Great Flagbook) is a secondary nickname given by connoisseurs.

Originally printed in 1939, this fac simile edition includes all updates later published. Plus two corrections. Hardcover in a case. Includes 250 colour plates, more than 1.700 colour illustrations of flags, badges and coat of arms.

Fac-simile edition of [neu39], with 250 colour plates with more than 1700 illustrations. It corresponds to the 1939 edition, augmented with 50 additions from the year 1941 (including new German Reich and Vichy flags) and a few plates that were never released during wartime: 11 plates from after 1941 (all addenda occasionnally published until 1945), plus 5 addended sheets found after the book has gone to print. It is a “strictly limited edition” of 3000 pieces.
Ivan Sache, 27 May 1997 and 07 May 1999

The book reviewed here is one of the rare highlights about which a journalist can give his opinion. ...The review of the book can be summarized in just one word: exquisite. A mirror of the politically drastic era of those days: It is documented and illustrated by flags, ensigns, standards, coats of arms and pennants. The graphic realization and illustration of all symbols, including the necessary parametres for drawing and production, is simply unique in its precision. ... Furthermore this facsimile edition is much more than just a reprint of the first edition from 1939 and there has hardly been any chance to buy this original, not even in an antiquarian. Nearly a quarter of the “new” flag book is composed of plates containing corrections, supplements and amendments which had, almost until the last days of the war, been registered under the traditional code number "M. Dv. Nr. 377" (naval service regulations number 377).
quoted by Dorothee Jüngling (Mauritius Buch Verlag GmbH), 16 Nov 1999