Animaux Travestis (Album à Transformations) (Movable Slice-Flap Book)
Jean François Matet (illustrator). Paris: A.C. Éditeur (A. Capendu), not later than 1947.
Oblong quarto (9 1/2 × 9 in. / 23 × 23 cm). Stiff pictorial wraps. No. 42/1 appears on upper cover. Illustrated by Jean Matet (1870–1936), this transformable picture book features anthropomorphized animals in whimsical costumes and settings. Readers flip horizontally segmented pages to create absurd and playful combinations of heads, bodies, and feet.
Comprises six full-color metamorphosis plates, each divided into three horizontal flaps (18 total segments). Printed throughout in color and staple-bound. This example features a pink pictorial cover, differing from the more commonly reported red variant. The pink appears uniform and unfaded, suggesting a lesser-known binding variant or alternate print run rather than discoloration.
Condition: Very good. Covers show minor edgewear and one closed tear on the rear panel. Binding secure. Interior complete, clean, and unmarked. No damage to the flap mechanisms. A well-preserved example of a fragile transformation format.
Collector’s Corner:
Jean François Matet (1870–1936) was a French illustrator and designer celebrated for his colorful and detailed contributions to early 20th-century children's literature. His collaborations with A. Capendu often featured inventive formats and charming anthropomorphic characters. Animaux Travestis exemplifies this style, combining visual humor with interactive design. Many of Matet’s works were printed in ephemeral formats that rarely survive intact.
Although some records assign a 1949 date to this title, it is definitively listed in the 1947 volume of La Librairie française: Catalogue général des ouvrages parus, confirming its availability no later than that year. The numbered cover (No. 42/1) matches Capendu’s output of the immediate postwar era.
Other titles in this transformation series include Le Cirque Tsim Boum Boum: Album à transformations (1930), also published by A. Capendu and illustrated in a similar whimsical style.
Reference: La Librairie française: Catalogue général des ouvrages parus, vol. 1, p. 218 (1947).
Reference: Bibliothèques spécialisées de Paris, Animaux Travestis (https://bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/pf0000598875).