Theodor Stroefer, Nuremberg, 1897.
Immer froh tagaus tagein: Ein Panoramabilder-Buch mit Gedichten
(German Pop-Up Book – First Edition, in Original Dust Jacket)
Octavo (7 1/2 x 7 inches). First edition. Illustrated by Cornelie Lechler. Published by Theodor Stroefer’s Kunstverlag in Nuremberg. Contains three double-page, full-color pop-up scenes accompanied by numerous black-and-white line drawings and verses throughout the text. Text in German.
Rare German Edition of Ernest Nister’s Ride a Cock Horse – With Original Dust Jacket
Condition: Fine. Exceptionally well preserved, with all three pop-up scenes complete, original, and in excellent working order. Sound binding with minimal wear. Includes the rare original dust jacket, in fair condition with wear and edge losses (see photos).
Rarity Note: This is the only surviving example we have encountered of a movable book issued by Ernest Nister or Theodor Stroefer that retains its original dust jacket. In our decades of collecting and cataloging movable books, we have not found another confirmed example of a Stroefer or Nister pop-up or mechanical title with its jacket intact. This copy of Immer froh tagaus tagein therefore represents an extraordinarily rare survival and is of considerable bibliographic interest.
German editions of Nister’s books were published by Theo Stroefer's Kunstverlag in Nuremberg, and later from a branch office in Munich, are rarely found. At the time only a portion of the Nister press run was translated into German for simultaneous publication for the German market through Stroefer’s children’s book program.* According to an article in Movable Stationary, VOLUME 10 NUMBER 4 by Theo Gielen, Nister's English books are better-known with the German ones "rarely seen".
Theodor Stroefer worked closely with Ernest Nister. Stroefer already had a strong children’s book publishing program, strongly influenced by English publishers whose work he was publishing in Germany. However, finding German editions of Nister's MOVABLE books today is very difficult as production was quite limited
Collector's corner:
Theodor Stroefer (1843–1927)
Theodor Stroefer—also spelled Ströfer—was a distinguished German publisher whose career spanned from the 1870s into the early 20th century. Born in Bad Pyrmont on March 27, 1843, Stroefer began his publishing career in Munich, apprenticed to Friedrich Bruckmann. In 1866, he established a commercial agency on Broadway in New York City, specializing in the import and export of illustrated materials including engravings, books, and photographs. From 1868 to 1877, he co-ran a publishing venture in New York with Georg Kirchner before returning to Germany.
Upon his return, Stroefer co-founded the firm Stroefer & Kirchner and later focused his efforts under the imprint Theo. Stroefer’s Kunstverlag, first in Munich and then, from 1893, in Nuremberg. By the 1880s, he had gained a reputation as a publisher of sophisticated children’s books, many richly illustrated with chromolithographs and collotype prints. His editions introduced German audiences to the work of celebrated English illustrators such as Kate Greenaway. His cosmopolitan taste, shaped by his American experience, led him to emphasize technically refined, mass-market picture books based largely on English styles.
Stroefer’s collaboration with Ernest Nister, a Nuremberg-based chromolithographer and movable book innovator, began as early as 1888 and intensified following Stroefer’s move to Nuremberg in 1893. Their partnership was both practical and creative: Stroefer often served as the editorial and publishing force behind children’s titles whose illustrations and chromolithographic production were handled entirely by Nister. Nister’s workshop produced the majority of the color printing for Stroefer’s children’s books, including movable mechanisms, transformation scenes, and high-quality illustrations in the English style.
While Nister retained rights to the English-speaking market and worked directly with E. P. Dutton in New York and a London office, Stroefer adapted and published many of the same works under his own Kunstverlag for the German and wider continental European markets. Titles often appeared in parallel editions, with German-language text and minor variations in format or presentation. In many cases, the illustrations in Stroefer’s editions were directly re-used from Nister’s English editions, but sometimes accompanied by revised text or reworked content.
This collaboration allowed both publishers to reach wide audiences while maintaining distinct identities. Stroefer’s editions were known for their quality and consistency, and they helped to shape the German children’s book market by importing and popularizing English visual and mechanical storytelling traditions. The close link between the two firms extended beyond books: Stroefer also published high-quality chromolithographed postcards, many of which were printed by Nister’s shop and issued under Stroefer's popular "T.S.N." series, which stands for Theodor Stroefer Nuremberg.
After his death in Nuremberg on July 9, 1927 ( He is buried in the Nuremberg Johannisfriedhof, plot no. I/1230) , his son August Stroefer (1882–1945) briefly carried on the business. However, the company’s archives and facilities were destroyed during World War II, and it was officially removed from the Handelsregister in 1958.
Cornelie Lechler (1857–c. 1950)
Cornelie Lechler, born April 20, 1857, in Winnenden, Germany. She grew up in a religious, literate home and remained unmarried, dedicating her life to children’s literature. She was one of the most prolific children’s authors of her time. After early schooling in cities like Nürtingen, Calw, Heilbronn, and Ulm, she began submitting verses—her first German publication appearing in Stroefer’s Jugendfreund in 1884. Credited with writing around 200 books—predominantly filled with gentle rhymes, small moral tales, and simple depictions of childhood life—Lechler captured the joys and innocence of early youth, quickly becoming a staple in late 19th- and early 20th-century German children’s literature. Her career was closely connected with leading German publishers, producing charming picture-based titles such as Des Kindes Lieblingstiere and Kinderlust, as well as volumes with the imprint of Theo Stroefer and J. F. Schreiber in Stuttgart and Nuremberg. She lived most of her life in Winnenden, moving between family members as they aged, and suffered declining health after her father’s death in 1903. Cornelie Lechler passed away on November 11, 1939 (the date varies in some records), with her burial taking place in Winnenden’s old cemetery. In her biography, she described her life as uneventful: "There is very little to say about my life. It had no ups and downs that might be of significance to outsiders"
References
Wikipedia contributors. "Theodor Stroefer." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Stroefer (accessed July 2025).
Gielen, Theo. “Ernest Nister’s Books in the German Language.” Movable Stationary, Vol. 10, No. 4 (November 2002): 6–9.
— Documents the rarity of German-language editions of Nister's movable books issued by Theodor Stroefer, noting they are “rarely seen.”
Weatherly, Fred E. Touch and Go: A Book of Transformation Pictures. Illustrated by Ernest Nister. London: Ernest Nister; New York: E. P. Dutton, ca. 1894.
— English-language edition corresponding to Lustige Gesellschaft, the German version.
Jäger, Georg. Das Kaiserreich 1871–1918: Literatur, Medien, Politik und Gesellschaft im wilhelminischen Deutschland. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 2013.
— Page 149 describes the collaboration between Nister and Stroefer and their roles in developing technically refined children's books using chromolithography.
Hunt, Julia. Peeps into Nisterland: A Guide to the Children’s Books of Ernest Nister. Surrey: Casmelda Publishing, 2006. ISBN 9780955216800.
— A collector’s guide documenting both English and German editions of Nister’s movable books, including their bibliographic details and rarity.
JLIS.it. “The Mechanism of the Revolving Picture Book.” Italian Journal of Library, Archives, and Information Science 7, no. 1 (January 2016): 101. doi:10.4403/jlis.it-11610.
— Explains the volvella mechanism used in Nister’s movable books, including examples like Round Pictures for All Little Folk and Magic Moments.
Pangloss.de. “Cornelie Lechler: Winnendens erste Kinderbuchautorin – Biographie.” Pangloss.de. Accessed July 11, 2025. https://www.pangloss.de/cms/index.php?page=cornelie-lechler.