Wereldburgers En Hunne Ontmoetingen: Afwisselend Prentenboek met Leerzame Bijschriften (Movable Transformation 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 illustration is divided horizontally into interchangeable sections, allowing the figures to transform into humorous composite characters through the movement of integrated paper strips.
Note: All movable elements are integral to the binding, with no separate cards, tabs, or removable figures. Some early auction and catalog descriptions incorrectly interpreted the layered transformation design as involving loose or interchangeable parts. The mechanism instead belongs to the tradition of bound metamorphic transformation books and represents a sophisticated example of late nineteenth century Dutch paper engineering.
As described by the Digital Library for Dutch Literature (DBNL), Wereldburgers en Hunne Ontmoetingen contains eight full-page color illustrations depicting figures such as an Indian, a fisherman, a Chinese man, and Puss in Boots. In each image, horizontal cuts below the head and above the legs permit alternate sections to slide into view, transforming the central figure by exchanging heads or lower bodies. The resulting combinations are intentionally comic, although, as DBNL notes, “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.
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 several 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).
These titles relied on fixed, bound mechanical structures such as triptych slice plates, flip up flaps, and hole plate overlays rather than detachable insert figures.
Avonturen van Jan Klaassen
(The Adventures of Jan Klaassen)
Flap book format with six color illustrations
Roodkapje en het glazen muiltje
(Little Red Riding Hood and the Glass Slipper)
Text by S. J. Andriessen, issued with four flap lithographs around 1875
Het vermakelijke wassenbeeldenspel
(The Entertaining Wax Figure Show)
Created by H. J. Overbeek in 1877, employing horizontally sliced metamorphic plates to create changing facial transformations
Hier is te zien, wat ge nog nooit hebt gezien
(Here Is Seen What You Have Never Before Seen)
Published circa 1877, using flap overlay transformations depicting grotesque people and animals
Het mooiste van de kermis
(The Finest of the Fair)
Fairground themed transformation book with captioned round opening lithographs
Hè! dat’s aardig. De rariteiten der verrassingen
(Well! That’s Delightful. The Curiosities of Surprises)
Transformation magic book continuing the series’ metamorphic mechanical style
De gelaarsde kat. Verrassend tooverboek
(Puss in Boots. Surprising Magic Book)
Metamorphic transformation book in the characteristic Tooverprentenboeken format
History of I. De Haan:
Jan de Haan began his career in the Amsterdam book trade as an apprentice under the publisher J.H. Gebhard. In 1852, he established himself as an independent bookseller in Krommenie, later expanding the business to include both a circulating library and a publishing house devoted increasingly to educational and juvenile literature.
Although the publisher himself was Jan de Haan, publications generally appeared under the imprint “I. de Haan.” This reflected nineteenth century Dutch naming conventions in which Jan was often formalized as Johannes or rendered through Latinized forms, causing initials such as “I.” to appear in commercial and bibliographic usage. As a result, the firm became widely known through the imprint “I. de Haan, Haarlem,” despite the publisher’s commonly used name remaining Jan de Haan.
De Haan’s connection to Haarlem was firmly established in 1871 when he acquired the well-known bookshop of G. Burck at Groote Houtstraat 137. From this Haarlem base, he developed one of the more substantial Dutch juvenile publishing programs of the late nineteenth century, issuing illustrated children’s books, educational works, inexpensive picture books, and the inventive Tooverprentenboeken series of movable and metamorphic publications. The firm worked closely with the Haarlem lithographic printers Emrik & Binger and became particularly known for well-produced yet affordable chromolithographed children’s books.
In 1879, Jan de Haan’s son Pieter entered the business, after which the firm occasionally appeared as “De Haan & Zoon,” although most publications continued under the established “I. de Haan” imprint. The business remained active until Pieter de Haan’s sudden death in 1900, after which Jan largely withdrew from publishing and bookselling activities. By 1903, the rights to De Haan’s well-known print series had passed to Arie Segboer of The Hague, effectively marking the close of the De Haan publishing enterprise in Haarlem.
Because “Jan de Haan” was a common Dutch name, the firm’s publications are most reliably identified through the Haarlem imprint “I. de Haan,” references to Groote Houtstraat, or later variants such as “De Haan & Zoon.” The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), National Library of the Netherlands, maintains extensive bibliographic records for the firm’s Haarlem publications.
References
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 (DBNL)
Buijnsters, P.J., and Leontine Buijnsters-Smets. “I. de Haan in Haarlem.” In Lust en Leering: Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse Kinderboek in de Negentiende Eeuw. Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2001, pp. 279–280. DBNL text edition
“Boekhandel van I. de Haan, te Krommenie.” Advertisement. Algemeen Handelsblad (Amsterdam), December 3, 1855.
“Boekhandelaar I. de Haan, te Krommenie.” Advertisement relating to Dr. Kern’s Handleiding bij het onderwijs der Nederlandsche taal. Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, September 21, 1864.
“Almanak voor de Jeugd 1871.” Advertisement issued by I. de Haan, Krommenie. Algemeen Handelsblad (Amsterdam), December 25, 1870.
“Boekhandel van I. de Haan, te Haarlem.” Advertisement. Opregte Haarlemsche Courant, April 24, 1871.
Letter from I. de Haan to A.C. Kruseman, Haarlem, September 6, 1885. BKVB, sign. BKr 1-70.
Van Charante, N.A. Kinderleven, Schetsen en Novellen voor de Jeugd. Krommenie: I. de Haan, 1856.
Tine’s bezoek aan de Wereldtentoonstelling te Parijs [Tine’s Visit to the World Exhibition in Paris]. Haarlem: I. de Haan, [1878]. Chromolithography by Emrik & Binger.