RARE EARLY PUBLICITY ALBUMS WITH 23 ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
A striking and rare pair of vintage publicity photograph albums from Persil, the pioneering German laundry detergent company. Produced circa the mid-1930s, these albums document two key sites in Belgium: the company’s production facility in Hérent-Lez-Louvain, and its elegant offices in Brussels.
Item Details:
Condition:
Very Good overall. Light wear and sunning to outer wraps; one album with chipping to edges. Photos generally clean with occasional edge toning or soft fading. Internally sound and complete. Please refer to gallery or request further images.
Historical Context:
Persil, introduced in 1907 by German chemists Prof. Dr. Herman Giessler and Dr. Hermann Bauer, was the world’s first "self-activating" laundry detergent — a revolutionary blend of soap and bleaching agents. Its name derives from two of its key ingredients: perborate and silicate. These albums capture the industrial and administrative presence of the brand in Belgium, as Persil expanded across Europe and became a household name.
Photographically rich and graphically stylish, the albums offer a glimpse into Persil's corporate pride: modern factory floors, gleaming machinery, and well-appointed office interiors reflect both technological confidence and polished commercial image-making during the interwar years.
Such albums would likely have been produced in limited numbers for internal use or for high-level distributors and partners — making surviving examples extremely scarce.
Provenance:
Private European collection. Recently acquired and catalogued for the first time.