[CHILDREN'S NOVELTY MOVABLE BOOK] - THE SPEAKING PICTURE BOO...

Estimate

£200 - £300

[CHILDREN'S NOVELTY MOVABLE BOOK] - THE SPEAKING PICTURE BOOK Reproducing the Voices of The Cock, The Donkey, The Lamb, The Birds, The Cow, The Cuckoo, The Goat, and The Baby. London, H Grevel & Co, no date [circa 1880's]. Early English edition, folio, 8 full-page chromo illustrations each with an accompanying printed rhyme, publisher's red cloth with pictorial upper board, the three wooden sides are gilded, the top and bottom with carved leaf shapes, the fore-edge with 7 (of 9) turned ivory handles attached to string-pulls which reproduce the various animal noises when pulled. These 'talking' picture books were originally produced in Nuremberg by publisher Theodore Brand, the book's inventor. Brand obtained a German patent for the book in 1878, and a British patent followed a year later. They are a rare survival in any condition. Haining, Movable Books, page 136

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Internally the leaves have some light spotting and soiling, but are complete. Only 7 of the 9 ivory handles are present but each of these still work and reproduce an animal noise with the exception of the donkey, which now sounds more like a soft whistle. The cloth binding has some slight wear at the extremities and rubbing to the upper board. All in all, a decent example of what is a very rare book - few survive without some defects