Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas was a major cartographic work (general atlas) published in several German and foreign editions 1881 - 1937. It was named after Richard Andree

Richard Andree

Richard Andree was, like his father Karl Andree, a German geographer noted for devoting himself especially to ethnography...

 (1835-1912) and published by Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld

Bielefeld

Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...

 and Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany.

By using chromolithography

Chromolithography

Chromolithography is a method for making multi-color prints. This type of color printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and it includes all types of lithography that are printed in color. When chromolithography is used to reproduce photographs, the term photochrom is frequently used...

, rather than copper plate engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

, but reproducing the maps from zinc plates that were etched in relief

Relief print

A relief print is an image created by a printmaking process where protruding surface faces of the matrix are inked; recessed areas are ink free. Printing the image is therefore a relatively simple matter of inking the face of the matrix and bringing it in firm contact with the paper...

 (just like letterpress printing

Letterpress printing

Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...

), V & K was able to offer detailed maps at a much lower price than competing works, such as the 7th and 8th editions of Stielers Handatlas

Stielers Handatlas

Stielers Handatlas , formally titled "Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude" , was the leading German world atlas of the last three decades of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century...

. The 1937 edition of Andrees Handatlas was printed using offset printing

Offset printing

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...

.

Editions

The first edition appeared in 1881. The 4th and 5th editions were edited by Albert Scobel (1851-1912); the 6th through 8th editions, by Ernst Ambrosius; and the final edition, by Konrad Frenzel. Cartographers were G. Jungk (†1932), R. Kocher, E. Umbreit (†1904), A. Thomas (†1930), H. Mielisch (†1925), and K. Tänzler (†1944) although production of a number of maps was contracted out to geographical institutes like Peip, Wagner & Debes, Sternkopf, Sulzer.

Editions of Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas

Date	Edition	Edition	Main Maps	Side Maps	Names	Revisions, Notes
1881	[1st]	-	86	-	-	-
1887	2nd	Zweite	120 + 2	-	-	1889, 1890
1887	-	Supplement	33	-	-	For owners of the 1st edition.
1893	3rd	Dritte	91	86	-	1896
1893	-	Supplement	64	-	-	For owners of the 1st and 2nd editions.
1899	4th	Vierte	126	137	-	1900, 1901, 1903, 1904
1899	-	Supplement	53	-	-	For owners of the 2nd and 3rd editions.
1906	5th	Fünfte1	139	161	-	1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913
1914	6th	Sechste2	221	192	-	-
1921	7th	Siebente2	228	215	-	1921
1922	8th	Achte2	228	198	-	1924, 1924, 1928
1922	-	Ergänzungsband	62	-	-	Supplement, for earlier editions.
1930	8th	Achte2	231	211	300,000	5th revision
1937	[9th]	Ausgewählte3	100	-	-	-
1Jubiläumsausgabe (jubilee, or anniversary, edition). 2Namenverzeichnis (names index) in a separate volume. 3Selected, or concise, edition, in one volume.

Editions for other countries were also issued:

• Österreichisch-Ungarischer (Austrian-Hungarian) editions were published in Vienna in 1904, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913.
• Three editions of Andree's Stora Handatlas were published in Stockholm (1881, 96 pages of maps; 1899 andra, 130 large maps and 140 inset maps; and 1907 tedje, 143 large maps and 163 inset maps), with additional maps of Scandinavia. The verso text and the introductory material was in Swedish.
• The maps of Andree's atlas were used for Cassell's Universal Atlas, which was published in London in 1891-1893 using maps printed in Leipzig in English; and for the Times Atlas
  Times Atlas of the World
  The Times Atlas of the World, rebranded The Times Atlas of the World: Comprehensive Edition in its 11th edition and The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World from its 12th edition, is a world atlas currently published by HarperCollins...
  
  of 1895-1900.

Editions of a Geographisches Handbuch (Geographical Handbook) for Andrees Handatlas were issued in 1882, 1894, 1895 (2nd edition), 1898-1899 (3rd), 1902 (4th) and 1909 (5th).

Other well-known titles of Velhagen & Klasing were Putzgers (after F.W. Putzger, †1913) Historischer Schulatlas (Historical School Atlas; 1877, as Historischer Weltatlas or Historical Worldatlas; 100th ed. 1979), Grosser Volksatlas (Large Peoples Atlas, 1935) and Grosser Wehratlas (Large Military Atlas, 1937). Founded 1835, the firm was taken over by F. Cornelsen in 1954, and is now fully merged into that company.

Sources: Karlsruhrer Virtueller Katalog