The anti-Napoleon newspaper Neue Feuerbrände (New Fires) was one of this fictitious publishing house’s most notorious publications. The short-lived periodical, which was only published in 1807 and 1808, had a fire-red illustrated cover. Friedrich von Cölln (1766-1820) issued the journal anonymously, just as he had already done with the Vertrauten Briefe über die innern Verhältnisse am preußischen Hofe (Trusted letters about the internal affairs at the Prussian court). These and other writings were published under the faked masthead Peter Hammer or translated in French under the name Pierre Marteau in Cologne.

One of the journals is illustrated with a scene showing the shop premises of a company that never existed. You have to look very closely to read/identify the name plate on the opened shop door on the right hand side, where Peter Hammer Libraire can be seen. The cover illustrations of the first volume depict the friends and enemies of the Intelligenzblatt zu den Neuen Feuerbränden (Newssheet of the New Fires) on the front and back pages. Patriotic burghers are illustrated on the front of the cover as the journal’s readers, while the back of the cover shows officers with plumes representing the enemies.