The Speaking Picture Book (Movable Book, ca. 1880s) – Early Mechanical Sound Book from Germany, Sold by FAO Schwarz
Publisher: [Germany: Theodor Brand, ca. 1880s]
Sold by: FAO Schwarz, 39-41 West 23rd Street, New York
Illustrators: Anonymous
Format: Boxed mechanical book with 8 chromolithographed plates and 9 pull-tabs for animal and human sounds
Size: 12 1/5 x 9 1/2 in (32 x 24 cm)
To date, The Speaking Picture Book remains one of the most technically sophisticated and enchanting mechanical toy-books of the 19th century. This German invention combines vibrant chromolithographed illustrations with hidden bellows and paper reeds that reproduce surprisingly lifelike animal sounds when the attached strings are pulled. The animals featured include a donkey, cock, cow, goat, lambs, birds, and a cuckoo, along with two human voices calling "Mamma" and "Pappa."
This English-language edition was printed in Germany and distributed through the iconic FAO Schwarz toy store in New York. The box features a red cloth binding, a color-illustrated cover, and gold gilt-painted wooden sides. Stated eighteenth edition.
Condition Report:
Illustrations and text pages are bright and clean.
7 of 9 pull tabs with strings remain; 6 produce sounds clearly, while one is very faint.
One tab has no string attached but the bellow appears intact.
All 8 bellows are present.
Minor wear on book corners; text pages in excellent condition.
One bar replaced on a cage; two cloth binding points restored. See photos for details.
Title Page Statement:
The Speaking Picture Book: A Special Book with Picture, Rhyme and Sound for Little People.
This copy is the Eighteenth Edition, with the note: "This work can be had at all Booksellers' and Toy Shops in English, German, French, and Spanish Editions." Printed in Germany.
Collector's Corner:
See our full research article on the Speaking Picture Book at VintagePopupBooks.com.
The Speaking Picture Book, patented by inventor-publisher Theodor Brand in 1878, represents an early milestone in the development of sound-based interactivity. A British patent followed in 1879, and the book was quickly produced in several languages for international audiences. English editions such as this were retailed by FAO Schwarz in New York, where they were marketed to affluent families during the holiday season. At the time, the book cost the equivalent of approximately $250 in today’s currency—a luxury item designed to impress.
With its bellows-driven voicebox concealed inside a decorative box and illustrations mounted above, the book transformed reading into a multisensory experience. Each string, when pulled, activates the corresponding sound, an effect achieved through ingenious paper and reed mechanics.
Noted in Peter Haining’s Movable Books: An Illustrated History (1979), The Speaking Picture Book was described as:
“The piece de resistance of any collection of movables, or toy-books for that matter... quite remarkably authentic in the sounds it produces.”
Additionally, as cited on DeadMedia.org:
“This Victorian toy, primitive though it is, is probably still the best synthetic speech toy to reach the market, and was certainly the predecessor of the Vocoder and of modern electronic voice synthesizers.”
This surviving copy—with its vibrant artwork, largely functional bellows, and intact sound mechanism—is a rare and historically significant example of early interactive children’s media.
References:
German Patent no. 31258 (Theodor Brand, 1878)
British Patent no. 3068 (1879)
Peter Haining, Movable Books: An Illustrated History, New English Library, 1979.
"The Speaking Picture Book," DeadMedia.org Archive
VintagePopupBooks.com, Research Article on Speaking Picture Books: https://www.vintagepopupbooks.com/category-s/1901.htm