ZUBER ET CIE, 1893-1939

First printed in 1855 at the height of interest in exotic flora and fauna, Les Zones Terrestres illustrates all five climatic zones. This design was Zuber's most ambitious and costly scenic wallpaper--requiring 2,050 woodblocks, more than twice the average number. Designed by Eugène Ehrmann, a botanical illustrator, with the assistance of Théophile Schuler, an animal painter, Les Zones Terrestres cost the firm 14,600 francs to produce. Zuber's other scenic wallpapers cost an average 5,000 francs to print; thus making Les Zones Terrestres by far the most detailed and elaborate scenic wallpaper ever designed and printed by the firm. (O. Nouvel-Kammerer, French Scenic Wallpapers, Paris, 2000)

Les Zones Terrestres was manufactured until 1939. The woodblocks for this magnificent panorama were destroyed during World War II when German soldiers occupied the Zuber factory and used them as firewood.

Another printing of this wallpaper is in the collection of the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris.