Wereldburgers En Hunne Ontmoetingen: Afwisselend Prentenboek met Leerzame Bijschriften ( Movable Flap Book)
[World Citizens and Their Encounters: Alternating Picture Book with Instructive Captions]
Haarlem: I. de Haan, [ca. 1878]. Lithography by Emrik & Binger.
Square 12mo (19 × 17 cm); [12] pp. Original color pictorial paper-covered boards.
A rare Dutch movable transformation book featuring four double-sided, three-part slice plates, yielding eight different metamorphic scenes. Each transformation is revealed by lifting interlocking flaps, creating alternating visual narratives.
Note: All figures are part of the bound book—there are no separate cards or tabs to insert or remove. Some confusion exists where early auction or catalog descriptions misidentified the layered three-strip transformation design as involving interchangeable parts or loose figures. This functionality resembles contemporary jaloezieboeken
(pull-tab picture books) rather than chapbook-style flip-flaps, making it a sophisticated example of mid-19th-century Dutch movable books.
As described by the Digital Library for Dutch Literature (DBNL), Wereldburgers en Hunne Ontmoetingen contains eight full-page color illustrations of characters such as an Indian, a fisherman, a Chinese man, and Puss in Boots. In each image, a horizontal cut is made below the head and above the legs, allowing a strip with alternative heads or legs to slide through. As the strip is shifted, the central figure transforms—receiving a new head or set of legs. The result is often humorous, though “it is inevitable that you sometimes see a torso twice,”
Condition: Very Good. All plates present and complete. Some tearing at slice points, as typical (see photos), but no repairs. Binding sound; spine worn but intact.
All items are returnable for any reason if not as described.
Collector’s Corner – I. de Haan’s Magic Picture Books
In the 1870s, Dutch publisher I. de Haan of Haarlem issued a series of transformation books known as Tooverprentenboeken or “Magic Picture Books.” These quarto-format publications, typically sold for 90 cents, were noted for their vivid color printing on quality paper and were distinguished by imaginative metamorphic elements such as flip-up flaps and die-cut holes. Unlike publishers like Trap, who favored pull-tab mechanisms, De Haan specialized in visual surprises that echoed the spirit of fairground curiosities. While the thematic content was uniquely Dutch, the underlying print designs may have originated in England or France. The series set a new standard in Dutch movable publishing, standing in contrast to the mass-market productions of price-driven firms like Jan Vlieger, and elevated De Haan’s position beyond that of a mere retailer to a leading innovator in children’s bookmaking.
The back cover of Wereldburgers en Hunne Ontmoetingen advertises five companion titles—each priced at ninety cents in the late 1870s. Bibliographic records confirm that there were at least thirteen titles in I. de Haan’s celebrated series of Tooverprentenboeken (Magic Picture Books), including:
( Again, these titles uniformly rely on fixed, bound mechanical structures—such as triptych slice plates, flip-up flaps, and hole-plate overlays—instead of using detachable insert figures. No evidence was found for loose, movable pieces in any of the series’ volumes.)
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Avonturen van Jan Klaassen, with six color illustrations in flap-book format.
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Roodkapje en het glazen muiltje, with text by S. J. Andriessen, featuring twelve pages and four flap lithographs from around 1875.
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Het vermakelijke wassenbeeldenspel, created by H. J. Overbeek in 1877, a flip-book showing facial metamorphoses using six horizontally sliced chromolithograph plates.
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Hier is te zien, wat ge nog nooit hebt gezien, also by Overbeek, published circa 1877, with grotesque people and animals rendered through a flap-overlay technique.
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Et mooiste van de kermis, a fairground-themed picture book with captioned round-opening lithographs, circa 1877.
Later additions to the series included: (both maintaining the series' signature metamorphic mechanics and charming Dutch visuals)
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Hè! dat’s aardig. De rariteiten der verrassingen (Hey! That’s Nice. The Curiosities of Surprises)
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De gelaarsde kat. Verrassend tooverboek (The Booted Cat. Surprising Magic Book)
Refernces:
Buijnsters, P.J., and Leontine Buijnsters-Smets. Lust en Leering: Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse Kinderboek in de Negentiende Eeuw. Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2001. Quoted in Digital Library for Dutch Literature. Accessed June 19, 2025. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_boe022201601_01/_boe022201601_01_0007.php.