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Besides Raphael Tuck, another German responsible for
producing colorful movables was Ernest Nister. Nister's firm was centered
in Nuremburg, a center for toy making in the late nineteenth century. Between
1891 and 1900, Nister's company produced many children's books of superior
quality in both illustration and printing. Out of these, Nister productions
included a number of innovative movables. In addition to being marketed
in Germany, the books were also produced especially for an English audience
from Nister's London headquarters, and also for an American audience through
the publisher Dutton.
One of Nister's contributions to the history of movable
books was dissolving picture books. Dean had produced similar books based
on the venetian blind principle. "The illustrations in these books
had either a square or an oblong picture divided into four or five equal
sections by corresponding horizontal or vertical slits. When a tab at the
side or bottom of the illustration was pulled, the picture 'transformed'
into another picture" (Montanaro xv-xvi). Nister refined this technique.
The company produced dissolving pictures with vertical and horizontal slits,
but also devised a mechanism that would reveal pictures in a circular form,
creating a kaleidoscope effect shown in Magic Windows.
Magic Windows: An Antique Revolving Picture
Book. New York: Philomel Books, 1980. Originally published under the
title In Wonderland, London: Nister, 1895.
Here are May and her pug in the snow
together;
And now you shall see her in sunshiny weather.
Nister also perfected the technique of displaying
multi-layered, three-dimensional scenes. This kind of movable had been
used before by Dean and then Tuck.
However, the earlier examples had to be lifted up or pulled down manually
in order to "pop out." Nister's productions did not require
such labor. Each scene was attached by a tab to the facing page. Thus,
when a page was turned to one of the scenes, the multiple layers automatically
opened out. Nister released these books as Panorama Picture Books. Wild
Animal Stories, shown here, is a popular example of one of the panorama
books that was marketed in America. Its author is George Manville Fenn,
known for writing several boys books during the period.
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Fenn, George Manville.
Wild Animal Stories: A Panorama Picture Book. London: E.
Nister; New York: Dutton, [1897].
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Bingham, Clifton. Pictures to Please You.
London: Ernest Nister; New York: E.P. Dutton, [ca. 1891].
"If you will not bathe, I know
To the doctor you must go!"
"Here are the monkeys at the Zoo;
Now find Poll Parrot and Cockatoo."
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