Adolf Bähr & Co. (attributed)
The Favourite Picture Book (Pop-Up Book)
Berlin: Adolf Bähr & Co., [ca. 1911]. First edition.
Oblong folio (34 x 21 cm). [12] unnumbered pages, chromolithographed throughout. Six elaborate double-page tissue honeycomb pop-up scenes. Original color pictorial glazed boards, spine perished, text block intact. Printed in Germany. D.R.G.M. 247833 and D.R.P. angem. markings to cover. Text in English.
A remarkable survival from the golden age of German paper engineering, this extremely rare movable book features six pop-ups constructed from raised, spiral-cut honeycomb tissue paper affixed between adjacent pages. The layered die-cut scenes—viewed through delicate netted structures—create a dramatic three-dimensional effect unrivaled by standard cardboard movables. All pop-ups are complete and in fine, untorn condition, a highly uncommon state for this fragile structure.
Condition: Pop-ups complete, all six scenes functioning and intact with no tears or losses. Internal gutter joints reinforced with modern non-staining archival tape (as issued or added early). Spine perished with moderate wear to covers, including some bumping to corners. Pages show some expected age toning, but all chromolithographs remain vibrant. Original color pictorial glazed boards; spine lacking, but text block sound and secure.
Collector’s Corner:
The publisher of these books has long been a mystery. Through diligent research and help from Florian Preiß, Librarian for The German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology (AdöR) in Munich, we were finally able to unravel the mystery. The registration number was filed with the Adolf Bähr company, Berlin. Below you will find a patent ad for his honeycomb with an image that matches his parrot "pop-up". How fitting that Bähr used a bear as his logo — the German word for bear is Bähren, echoing his name, and the bear is also the proud symbol of Berlin.
This edition is one of three known books in a likely series, all sharing the same registered utility model number, D.R.G.M. 247833, and the distinctive bear-in-circle logo attributed to Adolf Bähr & Co. However, only the second and third titles bear the additional designation “D.R.P. angem.” on their covers; this first title carries the D.R.G.M. marking alone.
The three titles in the sequence are:
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The Favourite Picture Book – Cover: Boy holding a book (D.R.G.M. 247833) – People scenes [THIS COPY]
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The Favourite Picture Book – Cover: People riding an elephant (D.R.G.M. 247833) – Animal scenes
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[Untitled] – Cover: Clown and ducks (D.R.G.M. 247833) – Circus scenes
All three of these books were acquired by VintagePopupBooks.com, with the second and third titles being previously undocumented.
The specific DRGM number 247833 was issued in 1911, confirming the probable publication date for this copy. The related D.R.P. ("Deutsches Reichspatent") designation further links this book to a 1905 German patent (No. 166117) filed by Adolf Bähr & Co., which describes a spiral-formed honeycomb structure designed for movable picture books.
The publisher’s logo—a standing bear enclosed in a circle—appears consistently across all three known books and matches the registered mark of Adolf Bähr & Co., which held patents in Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom for honeycomb-based three-dimensional constructions.
Estimated publication date rationale: Although the underlying honeycomb mechanism was patented in 1905 (German Patent No. 166117), the book was likely not published until several years later. This delay is typical for complex novelty formats, as translating a new mechanical patent into a commercially viable children’s book required further design refinement, prototype development, registration, and coordination with lithographers and binders. The specific construction used here corresponds to DRGM 247833, a utility model registration issued around 1910–1911. The visual style, chromolithography, and paper engineering techniques are also consistent with high-end German novelty books produced in the early 1910s. Taken together, these factors support an estimated publication date of circa 1911.
An advertisement for the invention, showing the matching parrot scene, appears in Extracts from the Patent Specifications, Volume 27, p. 348 (1906):
In the 1905 patent above, Baehr emphasizes the educational value of supplementing flat illustrations with three dimensional forms. In this example, those forms are constructed of delicate gummed tissue paper folded in a collapsible honeycomb structure. Baehr explains that the goal of such picture books is to train a child’s powers of observation by presenting everyday objects and processes in a way that is both visually realistic and easily grasped. By adding three-dimensional forms to otherwise static illustrations, the invention aims to deepen the child’s comprehension and receptiveness, fulfilling the educational role of picture books more effectively than conventional formats.
References
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"DRGM Numbers with Year Ranges." Porcelain Marks & More: Germany. Accessed July 12, 2025. https://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/resources/dates/drgm.php
— Offers a date index linking specific D.R.G.M. numbers to their registration years, confirming 1911 for 247833.
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German Patent and Trade Mark Office. “History of the DPMA.” DPMA.de. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/about_us/history/index.html
— Provides historical context for Germany’s patent systems, including D.R.G.M. and D.R.P., from 1877 through WWII.
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Archiving Industry. New Markings on Vintage Industrial Items: Endnotes. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://archivingindustry.com/Industrydata/archivingindustrynewmarkings-endnotes.pdf
— Explains the meaning of “D.R.P. angem.” as Deutsches Reichs-Patent angemeldet, or “patent pending,” and its relevance as a dating indicator.
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Porcelain Marks & More: Germany. “Glossary of German Markings.” Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com
— Clarifies definitions and distinctions between D.R.P., D.R.G.M., and related registration marks found on early German products.
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Baehr, Adolf, and Theodor Sernau. Picture Book with Representations of Objects in Model. GB Patent 190520649A, filed October 12, 1905, and published August 9, 1906. Espacenet. https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/032186602/publication/GB190520649A
About the Publisher: Adolf Bähr & Co.
Adolf Bähr (1875–1943) was a German-Jewish inventor and manufacturer who played a pioneering role in the development of honeycomb-folded pop-up books and other mechanical paper novelties during the early 20th century. Born on January 25, 1875, in Deuben near Dresden, Bähr established himself as an innovator in both decorative hardware and paper engineering. His firm, Adolf Bähr & Co., operated out of Deuben–Dresden and later expanded to multiple locations in Berlin. Through a combination of design patents, educational publishing concepts, and consumer goods, Bähr helped define the mechanical novelty landscape in Germany during a period of industrial and artistic transformation..
Trade directories from the late 19th century list Bähr’s Dresden-area firm as a manufacturer specializing in fittings for cardboard packaging, majolica and glassware, tin toys, and modern photograph frames. An 1886 entry in the Adressbuch aller Länder der Erde describes his firm in Deuben–Dresden as producing "Beschläge für Cartonnagen, Majolika- u. Glaswaren, Blechspielwaren, Spez.: Blechsoldaten" (fittings for cartons, majolica and glassware, tin toys, especially tin soldiers). These listings show Bähr as a craftsman and manufacturer working across the boundaries of decorative arts, packaging, and toy production—fields that would soon converge with his later inventions.
By the early 1900s, Bähr had extended operations to Berlin. A 1905 British patent lists the firm Adolf Baehr & Co. at No. 12 Siemensstraße, Berlin N.W. 87, where he and partner Theodor Sernau filed a patent titled “Picture Book with Representations of Objects in Model.” The invention described a novel picture book in which facing pages conceal collapsible sheets of gummed paper folded in a honeycomb pattern. When the pages are opened, these paper structures expand into three-dimensional models that enhance the flat printed illustrations.
A second patent from the same period (DRP No. 263427) describes a collapsible figure with swinging limbs and a body formed of honeycomb-glued paper—an invention reflecting Bähr’s continued exploration of movable paper mechanics. These inventions placed him at the forefront of mechanical novelty design, integrating educational, artistic, and engineering principles into movable media.
By 1921, the firm’s Berlin address had changed to Ritterstraße 82, Berlin S.W., as shown in an advertisement published in Das Echo: Mit Beiblatt Deutsche Export Revue. This ad promoted the “Wie Du willst – Patent Steh- & Hänge Spiegel,” a patented adjustable mirror sold by Adolf Baehr & Co. and featured at the Leipzig Trade Fair in Specks Hof. The transition from Siemensstraße to Ritterstraße indicates either a relocation or expansion of business operations between 1905 and 1921, and shows that the firm remained active in the patented novelty goods sector for at least two decades.
Adolf Bähr’s business portfolio—ranging from educational pop-up books and collapsible novelty figures to mechanical household items like mirrors—reflects a consistent focus on paper-based engineering and patent-protected innovations. His work bridged traditional decorative manufacturing and early modern industrial design.
As a Jewish businessman living under the Nazi regime, Bähr became a victim of persecution during the Holocaust. He was deported from Dresden to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on January 20, 1943, and died there on June 3, 1943, at the age of 68. His name is recorded in both the Gedenkbuch of the German Federal Archives and the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. No records of his company’s survival after his death have been found.
Adolf Bähr’s technical contributions—especially his advancement of three-dimensional honeycomb pop-up book mechanisms—remain an important part of early movable book history and paper engineering.
References:
German Federal Archives Gedenkbuch: Adolf Bähr. https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/en1047164
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Source ID 49492. https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/source_view.php?...
English-language patent: “Picture Book with Representations of Objects in Model,” Adolf Baehr & Co. of No. 12, Siemensstraße, Berlin N.W. 87, 1905
German Patent No. 166117, Class 11d (7 March 1905)
DRGM collapsible figure patent (1905), listed in Deutsche Reichs-Patentblatt
Adressbuch aller Länder der Erde, 1886, p. 734 (Adolf Bähr in Deuben–Dresden)
Trade advertisement for “Wie Du willst – Patent Steh- & Hänge Spiegel,” Das Echo: Mit Beiblatt Deutsche Export Revue, 1921, p. 2769
Berlin Adressbuch entries (matching Ritterstraße and Siemensstraße addresses)
FürthWiki and US toy history databases (used for comparative exclusion of unrelated individuals)
For photos and further comparative analysis, see our listings under the “Books for Sale” section or the “Virtual Museum” archive at VintagePopupBooks.com.
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All books returnable within 10 days of receipt if not delighted for any reason!