Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1180194
F oreign travel during the early 19th century was difficult and sometimes dangerous, but those who wished to venture abroad had another, less strenuous option: panoramic spectacles. For a fee, armchair adventurers could sit in the center of a room while lavish scenes of exotic lands, hand-painted on screens, were rolled around them in a 360-degree circle. French wallpaper manufacturers soon began creating similar panoramas as decoration, and voilà, an insatiable demand for scenic wallpapers was born. As exotic and beguiling as they were, such panoramas were also teaching tools at home, transforming rooms into geography and history lessons, with subjects ranging from mythology and military campaigns to daily life in foreign lands. Few were as renowned for producing scenic panoramas as BEHIND THE SCENES engravers several years to produce using 1,024 wooden blocks and 150 colors. A group of 25 panoramas followed , including historic Views of North America and classical Eldorado, establishing the company's prominence. King Louis Philippe awarded Jean Zuber the Legion of Honor in 1834 for his work. Zuber continues to draw on more than 130,000 design documents from the archives to produce its wallpapers, using the same centuries-old paint formulas and woodblocks. These blocks are stored in 15th-century vaulted cellars beneath the Zuber factory and are now listed as historic monuments. In the book, John Neitzel photographs interiors around the world, including the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, which Jacqueline Kennedy refurbished in 1961. Her Zuber of choice? Views of North America, with a scene of the Boston Tea Party. BY REBECCA SHERMAN Jean Zuber, who began creating highly detailed designs in 1802. A new book, Zuber: Two Centuries of Panoramic Wallpaper ($75, Gibbs Smith), written by Brian D. Coleman, explores Zuber's remarkable legacy, with ample research. Zuber's fi rst paper, Views of Switzerland, took 20 In Beauport, the 1907 historic Sleeper-McCann house, overlooking Gloucester Harbor in Massachusetts, has been meticulously restored. Zuber Décor Chinois wallpaper, originally created in 1832.