Corbon National Dairy Farm, Calvados, Antique Norman Print, 1873

This antique print of the Corbon national cattle farm shows the Vacherie Nationale de Corbon in the Calvados and its paddocks, drawn by H. Gobin and lithographed by Deroy for the French agricultural album of the Vienna Exposition, 1873. A creeper covered house stands at the left, half timbered Norman ranges and fenced paddocks at the right, and cattle graze in the foreground meadow with their herdsman sitting among them.

Corbon was the state farm where the Durham herd was kept, so this sheet belongs with the portraits of Markob and Emilie. It is also a charming Norman country scene in its own right.

The sheet comes from the folio of maps, plans and drawings that the Direction de l'Agriculture of the French Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce assembled for its own exhibit at the Exposition Universelle held in Vienna in 1873, printed in Paris by the Imprimerie Nationale. The album gathered the statistical cartography, the model state farms, the breed portraits and the prize silver by which France meant to present its agriculture to the world. Its thematic maps belong to the first generation of printed statistical mapping, a field now collected for the history of data visualisation quite as much as for the history of farming.

The print is a lithograph, issued in 1873. It is uncolored. This antique print of the Corbon national cattle farm would suit a study, library or office, and it will appeal to collectors of French architectural views and of agricultural or veterinary history.

The sheet is in good condition, with age toning, scattered foxing and minor marginal discoloration, including faint staining at the upper right. The toning is the ordinary result of age rather than damage. Please see the images for a full view of the condition.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.