Note: This book is no longer avialable
WEISE, Gustav. Gustav Weises lebendiger Struwwelpeter: ein Ziehbilderbuch. Mechanik eingerichtet von “El. Em.” Stuttgart: Verlag von Gustav Weise, [1895].
First edition, in German. A later English adaptation appeared as Dean’s Living Strewelpeter (London: Dean & Son, 1896), with the same mechanical designs.
Pull-tab mechanical book (Ziehbilderbuch). Large quarto (33 cm). Cloth-backed boards with pictorial onlay, red cloth spine, and cover vignette framed typographically. Text in German, printed in Fraktur. Meggendorfer's pseudonym “El. Em.” on the front cover. “El. Em.” is the pseudonymous form of L. M., used in several Weise publications. As confirmed by Frankfurt’s Struwwelpeter archive and by standard Meggendorfer bibliographies, the mechanical design is by Lothar Meggendorfer, the foremost innovator in nineteenth-century German movable books. Frankfurt UB explicitly notes that in this “Zieh-Bilderbuch,” Meggendorfer “brings the Struwwelpeter to life.”
Collation: 9 unpaginated leaves. Leaf [1] recto with prefatory verse; subsequent versos with rhymed text and black-and-white illustrations; facing rectos contain full-page chromolithographed plates, each animated by a lever mechanism operated by a pull-tab at the lower margin. Contains Seven of Eight movable plates originally issued.
Condition:
Fair,One movable plate lacks its original headpiece, another is missing a stick, and the final movable scene is entirely lacking (Der seltsame Fisch). All story leaves present. Several mechanisms worn, detached, or incomplete. Most pages are loose. See photos. A professional restorer could readily supply the missing head and stick in facsimile. A complete digital facsimile of the 1895 edition is available through the Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg (Frankfurt), and a convenient, commercially available Kindle digital copy also exists for practical reference—useful for conservators wishing to replicate missing mechanical elements.
Includes the following stories/ movable plates:
Der Struwwelpeter (Shock-Headed Peter) – working and complete
Der Apfeldieb (The Apple Thief) - complete not working
Der listige Peter (Clever Peter) - working but teacher's stick is missing
Die bestrafte Naschhaftigkeit (Punished Greediness) – working but arm is torn off but there without loss of arm. The separated piece also has its mechanism separated from movement – the original separated pieces are included with the book.
Das kranke Lischen (The Little Invalid) – missing doctor's head
Der erzürnte Affe (The Angry Monkey) – complete and working
Das vorwitzige Minchen (Inquisitive Minnie) – complete and working
Der seltsame Fisch (The Peculiar Fish) (THIS PAGE IS MISSING)
Notes: This rare movable adaptation of Heinrich Hoffmann’s classic Struwwelpeter transforms the familiar cautionary tales into “living” scenes through the inventive paper engineering of Lothar Meggendorfer, here credited under the pseudonym “El. Em.” Issued by Gustav Weise in Stuttgart circa 1895, the book features pull-tab mechanisms that animate the unruly child figures for which Struwwelpeter is notorious
Who “El. Em.” is
“El. Em.” is the way some German imprints spelled L. M. for Lothar Meggendorfer; Frankfurt’s note states clearly that in this Zieh-Bilderbuch by Lothar Meggendorfer “the Struwwelpeter becomes ‘living’.”
Quite Rare in any condition; This book is sought after by both Struwwelpeter collectors as well as movable book enthusiasts. The German edition is held in only a handful of libraries (Frankfurt UB, DNB), and its availability to researchers is almost entirely through digital surrogates. In Movable Stationery Vol. 5, No. 3 (1997), in an article titled “Movable Struwwelpeters Worldwide,” author Theo Gielen states " the English edition of this book: Dean's living Struwwelpeter, in 1896, simultaneously published by Dean & Son in London and by International Art Publishing Co., Ltd. in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, this book is highly sought after not only by collectors of movable books but also by collectors of Struwwelpeter. The copy in the Marjorie Moon Collection sold at Christie's in 1994 to a German private collector of Struwwelpeters for the highest price of all the movable books."
Collectors Corner:
Heinrich Hoffmann died in September 1894. In the very next year, 1895, this book – the most well-known movable adaptation in this tradition appeared. Whether its publication was intended to mark Hoffmann’s passing or to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the original German edition remains uncertain. Less well known is that three illustrations from this Struwwelpeter book were later redrawn by Lothar Meggendorfer and reused in 1910—simplified and paired with different story titles—for his Lustiges Ziehbilderbuch (Funny Pull-Tab Book), also issued by Gustav Weise in Stuttgart
The 1895 German edition was quickly adapted for the English market as Dean’s Living Strewelpeter (1896), published simultaneously by Dean & Son in London and their American affiliate, the International Art Publishing Co. of New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago—a point noted by Krahé and further confirmed by English-language trade catalogs of the period.
The Lebendiger Struwwelpeter occupies an important place in the history of movable books as one of the few adaptations of Hoffmann’s original to receive a mechanical transformation. Weise’s edition was quickly recognized abroad and translated as Dean’s Living Strewelpeter (London, 1896), with Christie’s describing its lever-operated illustrations as “articulated movements operated by a single card lever.” Surviving German copies with functional mechanisms are exceptionally scarce, and institutional examples include Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg (Frankfurt), which has digitized a complete copy in its Struwwelpeter archive.
Three illustrations from Lebendiger Struwwelpeter were later redrawn by Meggendorfer and repurposed in 1910 for his Lustiges Ziehbilderbuch (Funny Pull-Tab Book), also issued by Weise—though simplified and assigned different story titles. This direct recycling of imagery underscores the importance of the 1895 movable as a source within Meggendorfer’s oeuvre.
Pricing Rationale: Although this example is incomplete and in Fair condition, Gustav Weises Lebendiger Struwwelpeter (1895) is among the rarest and most sought-after nineteenth-century movable books, and the only fully mechanical Struwwelpeter engineered by Lothar Meggendorfer. Surviving German copies—especially those retaining seven of the eight plates—are extraordinarily scarce, with most access today through institutional digital surrogates. As noted by Theo Gielen in the Movable Book Society’s Movable Stationery, the Weise edition is the “most well-known movable” in this field and is highly desirable to both Meggendorfer and Struwwelpeter collectors; even defective examples appear only rarely on the market. Because complete copies command several thousand dollars when available at all, and because missing components can be accurately reconstructed from the Frankfurt UB digitized exemplar, this copy is priced to reflect both its condition and its exceptional rarity in commerce.
References:
UB Frankfurt, Struwwelpeter Digital (digitized copy); Deutsche Nationalbibliothek record (Stuttgart: Weise, [1895]); Christie’s Sale 5729, Lot 60 (Dean’s Living Strewelpeter, 1896).
Krahé, citied the English version of this book – Dean’s Living Strewelpeter. It was simultaneously published by Dean & Son in London for the UK marker aand by (Dean & Son owned) International Art Publishing Co., Ltd. in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago,= for the US market.
'Struwwelpeter' means. 'Shock-headed Peter,'
Note that an Italian edition was published in 1898 : [Struwwelpeter]. Meggendorfer, L. Pierino Porcospino Vivente. Milan, Ulrico Hoepli, n.d. (±1898), 8
Preface (translated into English)
Come hither, children, great and small,
And look inside this book for all!
You’ll find within your childish mind
Much jest and seriousness combined.
In handsome pictures you will see
Many a prank of girl and boy will be.
And you will also see what came,
And say at last: “Yes, just the same!”
And learn the lesson, mark it well,
So you won’t do such things yourself!
Something else this book contains:
Each picture has a moving frame.
When once the lever you set in motion,
Potz Blitz! — what joy, what fun’s devotion!
Yes, the figures spring to life,
A wondrous sight that banishes strife.
Not so, my child, does this delight?
For every picture stirs so bright,
And surely brings a happy cheer:
Living is the Struwwelpeter here!
Hui! Then suddenly you’re surprised,
A hidden thing revealed to your eyes.
Perhaps it happens all at once —
But no, I’ll hush, you’ll see at once.
When you pull, the picture shows
New wonders that the scene bestows.
So read and look, and do take care,
Of each small pull-tab working there.
And mind the lever, treat it right,
So you’ll enjoy it many nights.
References:
UB Frankfurt, Struwwelpeter Digital (digitized copy); Deutsche Nationalbibliothek record (Stuttgart: Weise, [1895]); Christie’s Sale 5729, Lot 60 (Dean’s Living Strewelpeter, 1896).
Krahé, citied the English version of this book – Dean’s Living Strewelpeter. It was simultaneously published by Dean & Son in London for the UK marker aand by (Dean & Son owned) International Art Publishing Co., Ltd. in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago,= for the US market.
Gustav Weises lebendiger Struwwelpeter (Weise, [1895]) is available as a full digitized copy in the digital collections of Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg. https://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/wertvoll/struwwel...
Rühle [1999], p. 142, entry 347 (1895) [Notes: “Because of Meggendorfer’s mastery in the field of movable books, this Struwwelpeter adaptation is particularly valuable, even though its content is secondary to Hoffmann’s original stories.
Krahé [1989] Werkverzeichnis, p. 188 (entry 54) [“Ein Ziehbilderbuch mit 8 beweglichen Tafeln” = “A pull-tab book with 8 movable plates”]. Edition 1895
The German National Library (via its GND record 118732528) plus related entries in institutional catalogs (e.g. Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt) confirm that Gustav Weises lebendiger Struwwelpeter. Ein Ziehbilderbuch. Mechanik eingerichtet von El. Em. is attributed to Lothar Meggendorfer (under the pseudonym “El. Em.”), published by Gustav Weise in Stuttgart, approximately 1895.
Gielen, Theo. “Movable Struwwelpeters Worldwide.” Movable Stationery 5, no. 3 (September 1997). Accessed September 16, 2025. https://archive.org/stream/movablestatione531997m...
Catalog reference: Villa Stuck exhibition, p. 97, entry 72 — also documents the work as part of Meggendorfer’s movable output.
Friedrich, Georg, and Reinhold von Kenzheim. Lothar Meggendorfer: Annotiertes Werkverzeichnis. Bücher und verwandte Druckwerke, Spiele, Modellierbogen = Bibliography: Books and Related Printings, Games, Cut-out Sheets. Berlin / Zürich / Wien: Edition Comboxx, 2012. (This is the standard annotated bibliography of Meggendorfer’s works, often cited as the most complete scholarly reference for his printed output.)
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