[Movable Book]. Meggendorfer, Lothar (1847-1925). Lebendes Affentheater. Ein Ziehbilderbuch. [The Monkey Theatre. A Moveable Toybook]. Munich: J.F. Schreiber, n.d. [ca 1893].

Oblong 4to. 8 chromolithographed plates with movable parts and pull-tabs. Original linen-backed color pictorial boards (light soiling to covers, hinges discretely reinforced).

FIRST EDITION OF THIS SCARCE MOVEABLE BOOK. “Meggendorfer’s reputation today is based almost solely on his ingenious mechanical picture-books for children. These he began to design during the late 1880s, and many of these books went into multiple German editions besides translations into English, French, Italian, Spanish, Bohemian, Hungarian, and Russian. Deservedly, he is considered the creator and chief innovator of moveable toy books, and his printed works are eagerly sought after by collectors of historical children’s literature. He produced books with moveable figures, transformation pictures segmented into three parts and thus interchangeable, books with pop-up designs, rotating wheels as well as four-panel slat pictures which change the illustrations through movement, and simply funny picture books for children that would certainly make them laugh and generally contributed to some educational benefit” (Justin G. Schiller’s Introduction to The Publishing Archive of Lothar Meggendorfer, 1975). Bilderwelt 2055; Krahé, Spielwelt 81; Ries 84.

This lot is located in Chicago.

[Movable Book]. Meggendorfer, Lothar (1847-1925). Lebendes Affentheater. Ein Ziehbilderbuch. [The Monkey Theatre. A Moveable Toybook]. Munich: J.F. Schreiber, n.d. [ca 1893].