Germany, Heer. A Wartime Photo Album, c.1940

(Heer Fotoalbum). An extensive and well-preserved photo album belonging to a Heer soldier. The album consists of a heavy card stock binding with a faux black leather exterior, with the cover bearing a silver swooping Luftwaffe-style German national eagle and an inscription of “ERINNERUNG” (“IN MEMORY”). A rolled silver-grey threaded cord is looped through dual magnetic metal on both on the front and reverse of the spine. The interior has 24 paper stock pages, each separated by a wax paper divider with a spider web design. Affixed to the pages are 134 black-and-white photos, dated between 1939 and 1940, depicting Heer personnel training and at leisure in Germany, and later in the field and sightseeing in Belgium and France. The album measures 280 mm (w) x 200 mm (h). Minor material fatigue is evident, and the swastika has been etched out of the cover, but it is in an overall near extremely fine condition.