Allerneuestes Theaterbilderbuch: Ein plastisches Bilderbuch
mit beweglichen Figuren in 4 theatralischen Aufzügen
Esslingen: J. F. Schreiber, [1883]. Large folio (14 x 10 3/4
inches - 35 x 26.5 cm.)
Author: BRAUN, Isabella (1815-1886)
English Translation: Little Actors Theater: Four Plays to
Act Out With Three-Dimensional Scenes and Characters That Really Move.
The German national bibliography and several 1883 German book references date this
book as 1883.
The year's seasons are introduced in four plays. On pages
opposite text of plays, illustrations can be lifted with a ribbon to form
three-dimensional scenes and reveal short verses about the seasons.
The plays are: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Christmas
Excellent condition with all scenes complete, all original, undamaged, and working. This book appears to have never been played with. The fragile window is still intact. The boys on the protruding bench are complete. See photos. Paper is good shape. Binding is good. Slight bumping on corners of boards - see photos.
Note – Besides pop-ups, every pop-up
scene is also movable. Pop-up 1 – three rivets move a girl rocking a baby in a
crib. Pop-up 2 – one rivet makes a
see-saw go up and down. Pop-up 3 – two rivets make two girls nod their heads.
Pop-up 4 – A pull tab makes a window open to reveal a family admiring their
Christmas tree.
Collector’s
Corner:
International News
Company, the primary American book importer for Schreiber, issued an identical
book for their American & Canadian markets entitled Little
Showmman’s series 4; The Children's Year: Songs for All the Seasons, Telling of
Happy Days in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter – ( 13-1/2 x 1 0-1/4). The
International News Company ,83-85 Duane St., New York, promoted themselves as
“Importers of German, French and British books” McLoughlin Brothers, an
American publisher, issued four titles in their 1884 Little Showman's Series;
Autumn, Spring, and Summer that are very close to the 4 scenes in this book.
The McLoughlin versions do not have near the detail of the original scenes from
of the Schreiber and International News Co. books. McLoughlin Brothers was the first large
producer of movables in the United States. We know that the company took
ideas from German and British publishers such as Dean, George Routledge,
Frederick Warne and others. McLoughlin offered similar products to Americans –
even directly pirating Dean’s Home Pantomime Toy Books for example. This is another example of a gorgeous German
movable that McLoughlin copied. Back
then, international copyright laws as we know them today did not exist. Walter Crane in fact wrote to the editor of
Scribner’s Monthly requesting that they inform their readers of the “injustice
he had suffered” about a pirated edition of one of his books which “grossly
misrepresents my drawings both in style and coloring.” Scribner’s Monthly
printed his complaint in September of 1877, with the editor even suggesting a
boycott of McLoughlin’s book. Indeed the quality of the Little Showman's Series;
Autumn, Spring, and Summer do not approach the quality of the scenes in Schreiber’s
Allerneuestes Theaterbilderbuch. The McLoughlin versions have the same scenes
but used a different artist. The last photos to the left show a comparison of
the scenes in this work and the McLoughlin versions.
This book is so beautiful that Schreiber came out with
reproductions of it in 1981 and 1990.
According to the book “Schreiber Kinder-Theater” by Brink
Abrahamsen, this 1883 theater book was one of 2 peepshow style theater books
that Schreiber put out in the 1800’s. The other two were ”Theater-Bilderbuch”
1878, and ”Das kleine Theater”