Lustige Gesellschaft. Ein Wandelbilderbuch
German (Nister) movable transformation book
Publisher: Theodor Stroefer, 1894
Author: Eugen Reichenbach
(12 1/2 x 9 7/8
inches; 317 x 250 mm.).
Eight chromolithographed transformation pictures.
Illustrated with 8 chromolithographic slatted plates that
change the picture when a tab at the bottom is pulled. Each transformation is
in excellent working condition with no missing pieces and no tears.
This is the very rare German edition of Ernest Nister’s
"Touch and go - A Book of Transformation Pictures". German editions of Nister’s books published by Theo Stroefer's
Kunstverlag in Nuremberg, and later from a branch office in Munich, are rarely found. At the time only a portion of the
Nister press run was translated into German for simultaneous publication for
the German market through Stroefer’s children’s book program.* According to an article in Movable Stationary, VOLUME 10 NUMBER 4 by Theo Gielen, Nister's English books are better-known with the German ones "rarely seen".
Condition: Excellent – original boards and binding fine. All
movables complete, original and working. 3 pulls have been replaced. Some tearing around tabs. Some pages
re-attached. See photos. (Note - faint grey diagonal lines are camera reflection from window screen, not part of book)
Collectors Corner:
Nister’s company is credited with having invented is the dissolving picture technique used in this book. While Nister improved on it, the original idea however, was from a technique used by Dean and Son and their “dissolving pictures”books. Nister improved on it.
Nister received patents for this technique in both England and Germany in 1899
Theodor Stroefer worked closely with Ernest Nister. Stroefer had a strong children’s book publishing program already, strongly influenced by English publishers who's work he was publishing in Germany. Finding German editions of Nister's MOVABLE books today however, is very difficult as production was quite limited.
Stroefer died in 1927 and was buried at the Nuremberg St. John's Cemetery
Footnotes:
Peeps into Nisterland : a guide to the children's books of Ernest Nister. [Julia Hunt; Frederick Hunt] page 291