Lineol Catalog Reprints

The basis for collecting Lineol figures are the sales catalogs of the former manufacturers. But especially early editions before 1939 are rare and therefore expensive. So it is not surprising that there are some very good reprints of these catalogs. This is not a problem as long as these reprints are marked as such when they are sold. The purpose of this article is to describe clear characteristics for some known reprints in order to be able to identify them accordingly.

General

With the advent of photocopiers, it is now easy to make copies of old manufacturers' catalogs. These are usually easy to recognize because the page margins of the original catalogs can be seen on the copies, or the quality of the illustrations is much poorer than on the originals.

However, there are also very professionally made reprints of the original catalogs that are not recognizable as such, at least not at first glance. In the following, some of these reprints are presented and the differences to the original catalogs are described.

Lineol Special Catalog 1925

There are at least two reprints of this very rare catalog.

Reprint Version A
Version A of the reprint appears to be the catalog with 68 pages almost completely covered, that is, including the range of dollhouse accessories. Since the individual pages are numbered, it is noticeable that page 59 is missing. The somewhat smaller format of this reprint is also noticeable. The pages consist of individual sheets that are stapled together at the left margin.

Reprint Version B
In this reprint, the publisher is indicated on the last cover page. The catalog includes only the set-up figures section, with the page numbering of the individual pages removed. Interestingly, page 59 is also missing from this catalog. The size of this reprint is 314mm x 230mm, which is larger than the common DIN A4 format.

Lineol Special Catalog No. 10 from 1937 (Dealer Catalog)

This catalog exists in the original in three different bilingual versions: German/English, French/Italian and English/Spanish. A common reprint is the French/Italian version. As with the original, the pages of the reprint are printed on high quality slightly glossy paper. However, the cover of these reprints differs significantly from the original in color. Furthermore, page 2 with the color illustration of the figures in different nationalities is usually missing. The dimensions of the original catalog are 318 mm x 232 mm. This is slightly larger than today's DIN A 4 format.

Often this reprint also includes the 1938/39 novelty supplement as a supplement. However, this supplement is not present in the original, since this was published only one year after the catalog was printed.

Lineol Picture Book 1938/39

This Lineol picture book is the last sales catalog before the start of the war in 1939. It includes almost the entire last available military figure assortment. The size of the original catalog is 270mm x 17mm, which is much smaller than today's DIN A4 format. There are numerous reprints of this catalog, two of which are presented here.

Reprint Version A

This version was issued before 1980. The cover is in green tones, so that it clearly stands out from the colorful cover of the original catalog. In addition, this reprint is in the size DIN A4 and therefore much larger than the original. Also, only the pages with the military figures are reproduced. On the last sheet the address of the publisher is given.

Reprint Version B

This reprint is much closer to the original. However, the name "Andreas Kaserer, Berchdesgaden" is printed on the flyleaf, so this reprint is also easy to identify.

Reprint Version C

This reprint is also very close to the original. However, a stamp "C.P Reich Cuxhaven" is printed on the cover, so this reprint is also easy to identify. It also lacks the green stripe on the left margin of the cover.

Reprint Version D
Also a very good reprint of the original catalog. Noticeably missing about 5mm of the bottom margin on the cover page compared to the original.

Conclusion

The list of Lineol catalog reprints presented here does not claim to be complete. Certainly there are other very professional reprints. In principle, there is nothing to be said against such a reprint, since original catalogs are only available to a very limited extent, but the information contained therein contains important information for the serious collector. However, it is crucial that in a sale a reprint is also designated as such and not sold as an original to an unsophisticated collector.

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