A Movable Book Feast: The World's Greatest Collection Comes to Auction

by Stephen J. Gertz

The startling resemblance and typical tableau deeply disturbing, I must begin by categorically denying that the terrifying portrait above with its desperate plea for acceptance is of yours truly, reproduced from my high school yearbook.

It is, rather, one of the five color lithographed circus scenes from Only To Say How Do You Do - And Introduce Myself To You (London: Raphael Tuck, c. 1910), one of over 240 volumes from the Landwehr Collection, the world's most remarkable assemblage of movable books in private hands. The collection will be auctioned on November 21, 2011 by Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg. All the books are rare, and scarce in this condition: as good as it gets for toy books that soon turned into confetti in the hands of enthusiastic children.

From: (ABC Book). Das Originelle ABC.
[Nürnberg: G. N. Renner, c. 1835].
First edition. Abecedaire with illustrations in vibrant color.
With 71 hand-colored copperplates. Folio.

John Landwehr is the renowned Dutch collector and bibliographer of emblem books, the author of the standard reference on Dutch color-plate books, an esteemed scholar of the Dutch East India Company, and, not so by the way, one of the world's great collectors of children's literature, with an emphasis on movable books.

From: At the Circus. New York: New York Book Co. [c. 1910].
First edition, from the series 'The Moving Picture Books.'
With 4 color-lithogr. plates with movable elements and
4 illustrations in colors. Orig. half cloth with front board
illus. in colors. Large octavo. Not in the Osborne Collection.

The collection is unique in terms of extensiveness and quality. It documents the history of movable books as well as pop-up, surprise, and transformation books.

From: Aventures extraordinaires de Monsieur de Krac.
Paris: A. Capendu, [c. 1890].
First edition. W ith 5 color-lithogr. plates with movable
elements and 4 illustrations. Orig. half cloth with front
board illus. in colors. Small quarto..

All the books date from the mid-19th through early 20th centuries, and represent the best of English (Dean, E. Nister, and R. Tuck), American (McLoughlin), French (A. Capandu), and German publishers.

From: Playtime Surprises by Clifton Bingham.
London and New York: E. Nister and E. P. Dutton [c. 1900].
First edition, publisher's no. 610. With 6 color-lithogr.
rotating plates and 11 illustrations. Orig. half cloth with
front board illus. in colors. Small quarto.

At this point, I'm just going to get out of the way and let these movables move you.

From: (Cinema-Book).The Little Green Man of the Sea.
London: Brown Novelty Company, [c. 1926].
First edition. A magic narration with convertible illustrations.
With 19 (12 fullpage) illustrations and "Cinemascope" with
blue and red foil. Orig. half cloth with front board illu. in colors.
Small quarto. When not in use the cinemascope glasses can be put away
in the small mounted tuck-in flap on front endpaper.

History of the Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens.
London: Dean & Sons, [c. 1859].
First edition. With 8 colored lithogr. plates with movable elements.
Orig. half cloth with illus. in color on front board. Small quarto.
Not in the Osborne Collection.

From: Hurra! Hurra! Nun Sind Wir Da! Ein neues bewegliches
Bilderbuch mit hübschen Erzählungen. [Germany, c. 1920].
With 4 color-lithogr. plates with movable elements.
Orig. half cloth with front board illus. in colors. Small quarto.

From: Isn't it Funny.
London, Paris and New York: Raphael Tuck, [c. 1895].
First edition, publisher's no. 1502. With 4 color-lithogr. plates
with movable elements and 7 (4 in color) illustrations.
Orig. half cloth with illus. on front board in colors. Small quarto.
Not in the Osborne Collection.

Zauber- und Verwandlungs-Bilderbuch. [Germany, c.1880].
Transformation picture book. With 42 illustrations, some in colors.
Orig. cardboard illustrated in colors. Small octavo.

From: Howard, J. H., Naughty Girl's & Boy's Magic Transformations.
New York: McLoughlin Bros, [c. 1882].
First edition. With 4 mounted foldable color-lithogr. plates.
Orig. wrapper with front board illu. in colors. Octavo.
Not in the Osborne Collection.

 

Toulouse-Lautrec, H. The Motograph Moving Picture Book.
London: Bliss and Sands 1898.
First edition. With 23 color-lithogr. plates (incl. title) by F. J. Vernaj,
Yorick et al. Orig. half cloth with front board illu. in colors by
H. de Toulouse-Lautrec. Quarto.

 It wouldn't be a collection of movables without the mechanical books of Lothar Meggendorfer. There are an astounding eighty-six Meggendorfer volumes in this collection. Booktryst will devote a separate post to the Landwehr collection of Lothar Meggendorfer next week.

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Images courtesy of Ketterer Kunst, with our thanks.

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Visit The Movable Book Society.

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Of related interest:

Movable Books Pop-Up at the Smithsonian.

Say Hello to the First Talking Book.

Waldo Hunt and Pop-Up Books: A Brief Overview.
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