Ernest Nister
Bible Scenes and Sweet Stories of Old (Pop-Up Book)
London: Ernest Nister; New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., [1897].
Second Edition. Oblong quarto (285 x 240 mm). Unpaginated. Original cloth-backed pictorial boards featuring chromolithographed cover illustration titled "The Finding of Moses." Printed in Bavaria with English text. Issued simultaneously in London and New York. Contains five full-page chromolithographed stand-up scenes (movables), each bordered by elaborate embossed die-cut prosceniums, activated by pulling forward the frame to reveal multi-layered illustrations in three dimensions.
This edition corresponds to registration number 868, as cited in the Movable Book Society catalog, and is one of Nister’s most intricate and elusive late-Victorian mechanical titles.
Condition: All five pop-up scenes are complete and fully functional, lifting properly with no missing elements or tears. Mild chipping to a few page edges and corners. Several inner margins reinforced with archival linen tape. Title page and front flyleaf are adhered approximately one inch along the gutter due to an old repair. Moderate wear and chipping to pictorial boards. Original binding tight and intact. See photos for detailed views.
Scenes included:
Rebecca at the Well
Moses Striking the Rock
Ruth Gleaning in Boaz's Corn Field
The Good Samaritan
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Collector’s Corner:
Rarity & Institutional Absence:
Despite its 19th-century publication, Bible Scenes and Sweet Stories of Old is not recorded in WorldCat, the Library of Congress, or any major institutional catalog consulted. Its omission from institutional holdings suggests it survives almost exclusively in private collections. This scarcity, combined with its fragile mechanical structure and decorative complexity, marks it as one of the rarer movable titles from the Nister-Dutton partnership.
Edition Comparison:
Two editions of Bible Scenes and Sweet Stories of Old were issued under identical titles and covre art but with entirely different scenes. This copy corresponds to the later edition (1897), as confirmed by its registration number (#868) and content.
In contrast, the 1895 version includes these scenes:
The Garden of Eden
The Story of Noah
The Red Sea Crossing
The Story of David and Goliath
The Tower of Babel
Both versions feature chromolithographs designed by Ambrose Dudley and W. J. Morgan, set within elaborate "grotto"-style frames. As documented by Julia Hunt in Peeps into Nisterland: A Guide to the Children’s Books of Ernest Nister (Surrey: Casmelda Publishing, 2006), none of the scenes are repeated between the two editions.