Campagne & Zoon
De Tooverlantaarn Struwelpeter (Movable Book)
[Amsterdam: Campagne & Zoon, ca. 1897].
Description:
Scarce Dutch movable edition of Warne’s The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter. Folio (11.75 x 9.75 inches / 29.85 x 24.77 cm). [12] pp. Issued without publishing information but bibliographically attributed to H. Campagne & Zoon of Amsterdam. Color-printed cover features a volvelle-mounted circular cut-out that reveals a sequence of chromolithographed images as the wheel is turned, mimicking a magic lantern effect. Interior includes twelve cautionary tales in rhymed Dutch verse with full-page chromolithographs. Printed on rectos only; versos blank
Condition:
Very good. Volvelle mechanism fully functional with clean rotation; all internal pages clean, complete, and free of repair. Moderate toning to covers consistent with age; minor edgewear to extremities. A well-preserved example of a fragile and seldom-seen mechanical book.
Attribution:
Though unmarked, the edition is cited in Lust en Leering (Buijnsters & Buijnsters-Smets, 2001) and aligns with the simplified 1896 English-language version by Frederick Warne & Co. Published under the pseudonym "Rosa," and issued in Amsterdam ca. 1897. An important and elusive title within the movable Struwwelpetriaden tradition. According to Theo Gielen* - In 1896, Warne & Co. issued a simplified edition of The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter, reducing the movable feature to a single wheel built into the front cover that displayed just four images of the girl who played with fire, and cutting the contents to twelve stories. The following year, in 1897, a Dutch edition appeared under the literally translated title De Tooverlantaarn Struwelpeter, attributed to the pseudonymous “Rose” (identity still unresolved), and published in Amsterdam by Campagne & Zoon.
Also - Contemporary trade evidence confirms the commercial issue of this Dutch edition. An advertisement appearing in Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel (14 September 1897) lists De Tooverlantaarn Struwel Peter as published by H. C. A. Campagne & Zoon of Amsterdam, describing the volume as “14 blz., m. zw. en gekl. afb.” (14 pages with black and colored illustrations) and offering it at a retail price of f 0.90.
Source: Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel, 14 September 1897. Courtesy of Delpher.nl, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands).
Rarity: No institutional holdings of this Dutch edition are confirmed in WorldCat or major European library catalogs. It is cited in Lust en Leering (2001) and Movable Stationery (1997), but known surviving examples - are virtually nonexistent.
Collector’s Corner
A rare Dutch edition of The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter, this movable book—De Tooverlantaarn Struwelpeter—was published ca. 1897 and features a striking volvelle mechanism embedded into the front cover. Turning the wheel reveals alternating scenes through a circular window, echoing the theatrical effect of a magic lantern show. The internal content presents twelve cautionary tales, adapted in rhymed Dutch verse and illustrated with chromolithographic images.
According to Buijnsters, This Dutch pull-along book, adapted from Raphael Tuck’s Slovenly Peter and Warne’s The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter, was issued by H. Campagne & Zoon in Amsterdam circa 1897 under the pseudonym “Rosa.” A turntable mounted in the front cover animates the work, following the model of Warne’s 1896 English edition.
The text consists of twelve rhymed cautionary tales rendered in Dutch, several closely echoing Heinrich Hoffmann’s originals while others introduce new episodes. Among the familiar figures are “The Girl with the Matches,” “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Eat,” “The Three Boys and the Inkwell,” and “Tom the Cry-Baby,” while imaginative additions include “Glutton Kees,” a boy who consumes so much chocolate that his body successively turns yellow, brown, and finally becomes entirely chocolate. This mixture of imitation and invention makes the book a distinctive national variation within the international Struwwelpeter tradition.
Though the book itself bears no imprint, bibliographic references confirm this edition was published in Amsterdam by H. Campagne & Zoon and retold by “Rosa,” The book is notable both for its rarity and for its place within the European tradition of movable Struwwelpeter adaptations.
*Movable book expert Theo Gielen (1946–2015) in the Volume 5, Number 3 – September 1997 edition of Movable Stationary talked about this book:
“With the same title of The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter, Warne and Co. published in 1896 a simplified edition of the earlier book (1890). The moveable part was reduced to only 1 wheel, built in the front cover of the book and showing only 4 pictures of the girl who played with fire; the number of stories included was also reduced to 12. From this edition appeared a Dutch edition with the literally translated title De Tooverlantaarn, published in 1897 by Campagne & Zoon in Amsterdam. At the latest in 1900, but undated, the 8 pages with the embedded wheels known from the 1890 edition, were used again by Warne & Co. for a third version of The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter. Printed without text this time, the cover reads "Printed and made in Bavaria." There was also the Dutch edition of 'The Magic Lantern', 'De Tooverlantaarn', (J. Vlieger) telling the story of the Dutch equivalent of Slovenly Peter, Piet de Smeerpoes. This Dutch edition has no text, similar to the third English edition published around 1900. But copies of this edition are extremely scarce, as are all these Warne editions.”
This edition is also specifically cited in Lust en Leering: Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse kinderboek in de negentiende eeuw by P.J. Buijnsters and Leontine Buijnsters-Smets (Zwolle: Waanders, 2001), where the authors highlight it as one of only two Dutch movable Struwwelpeters deserving special mention for their ingenuity. Described as “De Tooverlantaarn Struwelpeter by Rosa (Amsterdam, H. Campagne & Zoon, [1897]), with turntable and rhymed text after The Magic Lantern,” it is referenced again as “folio, with turning mechanism” (pp. 29, 55).
The English prototype for this edition, The Magic Lantern Struwwelpeter, was originally issued by Frederick Warne & Co. (London & New York) in 1890, followed by a streamlined version in 1896 which incorporated a single volvelle displaying four scenes. The Dutch version, issued the following year, mirrors this later format and remains an uncommon survival.
In his landmark bibliography Böse Kinder in der Bücherwelt (2019), Reiner Rühle emphasizes the remarkable international diversity and technical inventiveness of Struwwelpeter adaptations (Struwwelpetriaden). He specifically identifies formats such as the present example among the rare “technically interesting” variations produced during the work’s long publishing history, noting:
“Nicht selten wurden künstlerisch aufwendige oder technisch interessante Varianten geschaffen: Struwwelpeter als Puppenbuch, als Theaterkulisse, mit eingebauter Drehbühne, als Laterna-Magica-Vorlage oder in anderen Spielarten.”
(“It was not uncommon for artistically elaborate or technically inventive variants to be created: Struwwelpeter as a doll book, a theater backdrop, with a built-in revolving stage, as a magic-lantern template, or in other playful formats.”)
— Reiner Rühle, Böse Kinder in der Bücherwelt, p. 11.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: H. C. A. CAMPAGNE & ZOON (AMSTERDAM):
H. C. A. Campagne was a nineteenth-century Dutch publisher and bookseller whose family firm originated in Tiel, where it operated as both publisher and printer. The enterprise was founded by Cornelis Campagne (1797–1891), active in the Dutch book trade from at least 1819. T
A trade circular issued at Tiel in December 1849 documents the formal transfer of the business to the next generation, stating: “I have the honor of informing you that I have transferred all my business affairs to my two sons, C. A. and H. C. A. Campagne, who, beginning on the 1st of January next, will continue the business jointly and for common account.” From 1 January 1850 the firm was continued by the brothers Cornelis Albertus Campagne (1824–?) and Herman Carl Anton Campagne (1827–1895) under the name Gebr. Campagne (“Campagne Brothers”).
Following the dissolution of the brothers’ partnership in 1853, Herman Carl Anton Campagne continued the publishing house independently (1854–1871), issuing religious, educational, and scholarly works, including editions of the Dutch Statenbijbel (State Bible) around 1855. The firm maintained a substantial and varied catalogue comprising theological publications, atlases, dictionaries, and educational texts, reflecting its established position within the nineteenth-century Dutch provincial book trade.
A third generation entered the enterprise when H. C. A. Campagne was joined by his son Jan Cornelis Campagne, forming a renewed family partnership (1872–1881). After 1882 the business operated under the imprint H. C. A. Campagne & Zoon (“Campagne and Son,” with Zoon literally meaning “Son” in Dutch business usage), under which name the firm became increasingly associated with illustrated juvenile publications. From 1896 onward, publishing activity shifted from Tiel to Amsterdam, marking the firm’s transition from a regional press to a publisher participating more directly in the national book market.
The Dutch publishing firm H. C. A. Campagne & Zoon thus represents a multi-generation family enterprise active throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Contemporary trade notices record that the firm maintained an extensive publishing catalogue while gradually concentrating on children’s literature and illustrated books during the later decades of the century.
Jan Cornelis Campagne entered the business immediately upon leaving school and remained active throughout his lifetime. Trade accounts note that by 1869 he had begun undertaking regular nationwide sales journeys on behalf of the company, traveling twice yearly without interruption for fifty years. Through these activities he became one of the best-known figures in the Dutch book trade, reflecting the firm’s wide commercial distribution network across the Netherlands.
By the late nineteenth century, the Campagne catalogue consisted largely of juvenile publications issued for the popular market. A contemporary advertisement in Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel (14 September 1897) lists De Tooverlantaarn Struwel Peter among the firm’s offerings, confirming its circulation through established Dutch retail channels and documenting the publisher’s participation in the expanding European market for illustrated children’s books.
According to an obituary published in Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel, vol. 89, no. 36 (5 May 1922), Jan Cornelis Campagne died in Amsterdam on 1 May 1922 at the age of seventy. Shortly before his death, the publishing house was sold, bringing to a close more than a century of continuous family involvement in the enterprise. Contemporary accounts emphasize both the longevity of the firm and its recognized standing within the Dutch national book trade.
The importance of this publishing legacy was later acknowledged in the Dutch exhibition Het toverkabinet van Campagne Tiel (“The Magic Cabinet of Campagne Tiel”), which celebrated one hundred rediscovered children’s books issued by the firm.
FURTHER READING AND REFERENCES
Landwehr, John. De familie Campagne en hun boekenfonds, honderd jaar uitgeven in Tiel (1819–1919). Jaarboek voor Nederlandse Boekgeschiedenis. Digital edition, DBNL (Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren).
Buijnsters, P. J., and Leontine Buijnsters-Smets. Lust en Leering: Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse kinderboek in de negentiende eeuw. Zwolle: Waanders, 2001.
Movable Stationery, Vol. 5, no. 3 (1997).
Luikerwaal. Children’s Magic Lantern Books.
Boekenmuseum.nl. “Campagne & Zoon.”
Rühle, Reiner. Böse Kinder: Kommentierte Bibliographie von Struwwelpetriaden. Osnabrück: Wenner, 1999; revised ed. 2019.
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