Histoires Pour Rire - Lothar Meggendorfer
(This is the French version of the English Meggendorfer entitled "Artistic Pussy and her Studio. Moving Pictures with other tales. A Moveable Toybook from Lothar Meggendorfer")
By: Adeline Reynaud
Designed by: L. Meggendorfer
Publisher: A. Capendu, Editeur, Paris
1889 (?) 14 pages
Folio (9 3/4 x 14 1/4”) ,(302 X 222 mm.)
This very interesting
French language book is a pull-tab mechanical book consisting of six movables
in which animals are the characters.
Condition: Complete, all original, and working. The movables are
bright, clean and very colorful. They
show wear and some staining on lower edges due mostly to use of the
pull-tabs. All pull-tabs have the
usually finger smudges but are original and in excellent condition. There has been some repair due to the common
tearing around the area. There are very
few repairs in the book, except as noted.
Any specific repairs, if any, to a movable or text are included in the individual
descriptions.
There are eight
movables with a story text each of which includes sepia drawings.
The movables include:
1. Un Vaniteux (A Vain {person})
A Bulldog (obviously
the one on the front cover) rares back in a fancy chair, smoking a cigar as a
cat with pallet in hand is painting his portrait. Monsieur Bouledogue (obviously a very rich
and vain character) had sent a message requesting a portrait by Monsieur
Raminagrobis, a cat who is a well-known artist. His dog, Azor, is pictured on
the left page. In the moveable,
obviously pleased with himself, Mr. Bouledogue fully expects the glowing
compliments the cat showers on him.
However, the cat's thoughts are that Mr. Bouledogue has ears large as
cabbage leaves, a nose and a mouth comparable to a hippoptame. But as he paints the cat says"...your
mouth is fine, delicates your ears and your legs have a rare elegance." The Bulldog's reply, "Whatever you say
does not surprise me."
However, one pull of
the tab shows the cat opening his mouth and rolling his eyes - an obvious
depiction of his real opinion.
Unaware of the cat's
expression, the Bulldog lies back nodding his head in a very satisfied fashion.
There is a small
section of paper pasted across the bottom of the page, slight staining and a
tear mended. Note: All
photographs depict
any repairs throughout the book.
2. Falce de Singe (A Fake Monkey)
A drawing on the text
page depicts two women - and elderly woman and her adult daughter (Mme
Dugrantoeiol) appearing rather shocked at what they see and hear. What they see
in the colorful, clean movable is a monkey sitting in a big chair holding baby
in its lap. The baby is crying very
loud. The pet monkey apparently is
trying to play with the baby. A pull of
the tab moves the arms, one holding a doll and the other waving a rattle. He is calling out for mommy to help. But his real pleasure is his drinking
greedily from the baby's milk bottle.
But the story ends with Mme Dugrantoeil rushing into the room, taking
the baby and giving the monkey a whip.
The page has only the usual bottom edge small tears around the pull and
finger smudges.
3. Un Vaniteus suite (The vain continued).
Raminagarobis is
shown alone now painting a picture of his faithful servant Azor, much more
interesting for him than that of the Bulldog.
Under the picture his words are "Say that my client believed in
vain compliments that I sent him. Now I
quickly resume the portrait of Azor."
A pull moves both arms - one holding a colorful pallet and the other
moving a paintbrush. There is a small
fold mark on the shoulder and a not noticeable regluing of the brush. Also a light small stain and a tear on the bottom
of the page and a strip of clean paper glued to left side.
4. Les Deux Chasseurs (The Two Hunters)
The Hunter (Le
Chasseur) speaks in the first half of the text in which he says he will be more
cunning than the cunning fox (Le Renard).
He is going to his lookout, behind the tree to watch for the wicked fox,
which he will shoot. He is pictured on
the left behind a tree, wearing a feathered hat and peering out while holding a
gun.
The Fox (Le Renard)
is pictured in the movable holding two geese he has caught. He says that he had heard the hunter prowling
around the farm and perceives the feather in his hat behind the big tree out
there watching him. He says, "This
is a strong animal cunning hunter, but I'm smarter than him." Then the fox leaves in a different
direction. The moveable depicts the fox
running across a meadow with two geese under his arms. In the caption under the
picture he says, “Ladies, do not bicker, do not be jealous, one of you will be
stuffed, as to the other it will have the glory of the terrine." A pull of the tab moves the head of one of the
doomed geese while the other yaps wildly with big moving beaks.
Small staining at
bottom of page and repaired tear.
5. En Famille ((A Family) shows a mother hen gently rocking two baby chicks
in a cradle while four other chicks peck around. The story precludes the movable scene as the
young chicks beg to go out to play promising their mother to be well behaved
and not to do stupid things. The picture
on the left text shows the chicks dancing in a circle. However, they were not all very wise as two
of the chicks ate so many blackberries they came home sick. After a scolding and mild spanking,
mother hen put the
two sick chicks in the same bassinet. As
you pull, her leg swings back and forth moving the rocking cradle. The moving
leg has been reglued. The metal coil of
the rocker was pulled loose and a small repair covers it. Leg and cradle are in good working order.
Very light stains and small tears at bottom of page.
6. Lievres et Choux (Hares and Cabbage). In a large cabbage patch three hares discuss
the merits of a variety of cabbage plants.
Mostly they discuss them as food even referring such items as
sauerkraut, "But that belongs to a different species..." (Humans
rather than rabbits or hares, I expect)
Further they say "They also serve as a hiding place ... pursued by
hounds." These are perilous games
of hide and seek, through cabbage. In
the foreground a hound stretches its head from behind a post. A pull of the tab moves the head of the dog
up and down apparently not seeing three hares rising up and down from behind
the cabbage plants looking at him. The
caption under the movable has the hares saying "Cou-cou, ah! we are here!
The dog says, "Which side did they go? I do not see them." However, he must have seen them at some point
as the illustration on the left page shows the dog chasing two of them.
Note: The pictures shown in this title do not
correspond to any German edition
There is an English version called "Artistic Pussy and her Studio. Moving Pictures with other tales. A Moveable Toybook" from Lothar Meggendorfer. Published by the LW Walter Co. Chicago. Another english edition was published by Thompson & Thomas in Chicago and yet another was published in London by H. Grevel & Co.. The animated pages and illustrations are the same as this one.
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