Theodor Brand (Brand, Éditeur)
Livre avec voix d’animaux. Pour amuser les chers bébés.
[Germany, ca. 1911]. French-language edition.
Oblong 8vo (22 x 18 x 5 cm). [2] leaves of text (Introduction and Title), [6] full-page chromolithographed plates of animals, each accompanied by corresponding verse printed on facing verso. Red pictorial cloth boards with chromolithographed cover illustration of a young girl reading to animals beneath a tree; gilt titles to front board and spine. Six ivory-tipped pull cords embedded in side compartment operate internal bellows designed to replicate animal sounds. Decorative cutouts to rear board exposing sound bellows. Text and verses entirely in French.
This richly illustrated mechanical sound book features six elaborate internal bellows activated by pull cords along the fore-edge, each intended to imitate the voice of a featured animal. Illustrated plates depict:
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Rooster (coq)
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Goat (chèvre)
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Lamb (agneau)
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Donkey (âne)
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Cow (vache)
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Dog (chien)
Each page includes a charmingly rhymed verse designed to engage young readers with the distinctive voice of each animal. The opening “Introduction” invites children to imagine animals speaking in their own language. Mechanically, all six pulls function properly: four emit their intended sounds; two are silent but pull smoothly.
Bibliographic note: The title page bears the Theodor Brand emblem, identifying this as a confirmed issue by Brand of Germany, known for their pioneering work in acoustic novelty books. This version shares cover art with the post-1910 Speaking Toy Book issued for the English-speaking market.
Condition:
Very good. Boards clean and richly colored with bright gilt titles; minor rubbing to corners. Spine intact and sturdy. Internal mechanism complete and functional, with all six original pulls present. All six pulls function mechanically as intended: four produce their appropriate animal sounds, while two pull and retract smoothly but have fallen silent. All six animal plates are fresh, unfaded, and without tears. Some toning and separation to inner paper hinge (not affecting integrity). An unusually well-preserved copy of this fragile and mechanically complex title.
Rarity:
This French version of Livre Avec Voix D’animaux. Pour amuser les chers bébés is exceptionally rare. While English-language editions of The Speaking Picture Book and The Speaking Toy Book surface occasionally on the market, French-language variants—particularly the smaller six-sound model in red pictorial gilt boards—are almost never encountered. No other example of this specific edition with the Théodore Brand imprint and matching cover art is known to have appeared in institutional holdings or major auction records to date.
Retailer’s Label:
A small printed paper label affixed to the rear pastedown reads: "AU BÉBÉ / Maison fondée en 1868 / 28, Avenue de l’Opéra, PARIS." This marks the retailer as Au Bébé, a prestigious Parisian toy and novelty shop established in 1868 and located in the fashionable 1st arrondissement. Founded in the late 19th century, Au Bébé was renowned for its high-end toys, books, dolls, and nursery furnishings. Located in the heart of Paris’s 2nd arrondissement—just steps from the Palais Garnier—Au Bébé catered to wealthy families and tourists seeking exquisitely made children’s gifts. The firm regularly imported and retailed deluxe mechanical and illustrated books, particularly German and Austrian productions, often customizing them with French text or imprints for the domestic market. The presence of this label not only confirms early French distribution but also strengthens provenance, linking this copy to a prominent historical retailer of luxury juvenile goods.
Collector’s Corner:
This scarce French-language sound book, Livre avec voix d’animaux. Pour amuser les chers bébés, is a later and smaller-format variant of the original Speaking Picture Book (Der Sprechende Bilderbuch), first issued by Brand in Germany ca. 1880. The present example—bound in red textured boards with gold-stamped title and the iconic chromolithographed cover of a child reading with animals—is from the reduced-size post-1910 format (approx. 22 × 18 cm), designed with six pull cords, each producing a different animal sound.
This smaller format was developed for broader export markets, and its English counterpart was issued as The Speaking Toy Book in the early 20th century. The visual and mechanical similarities—including the shared cover illustration—clearly link this French version to that same production lineage. Unlike the earlier nine-sound deluxe editions, this streamlined six-voice model retains the functional bellows and charming full-page animal portraits but in a more compact, child-friendly format.
For more on the history and variants of this remarkable mechanical book—including the original patent, sound mechanics, and multilingual issues—see our research article:
https://www.vintagepopupbooks.com/category-s/1901.htmReferences:
Retailer information is derived from a 1929 advertisement in Bulletin – American Women’s Club of Paris. Paris: American Women’s Club of Paris, 1929, p. 727. Google Books