La Maison des Poupées

Paris: A. Capendu Successeur, ca 1880. Exceptionally Rare 'Paper Doll' Book with 'cut-out' Dolls, Dresses and Various Accoutrements

[PAPER DOLLS]. Librarie Enfantine Illustrée. La Maison des Poupées. Paris: Guérin-Muller & Cie., Editeurs, A. Capendu Successeur, ca. 1880.

Square quarto (11 1/8 x 9 inches; 282 x 229 mm.). [2, title, verso blank], [4, text], four colored plates, all interleaved,depicting various rooms in the house, all with slots in which to place a selection of the four dolls with their fourteen dress wardrobe and eighteen objects, all in their three original wood textured envelopes. The four colored scenes all have slots within which to place the dolls, their dresses and various objects to complement the final picture.

Publisher's dark blue cloth over pale blue boards, the front cover with a large pasted-on illustration in full color depicting a cottage with three dogs on the foreground, titled "La Maison des Poupées" and the publisher "G.M. et Cie A Capendu, successeur..."

Explication [page 3] translation "First of all, start by cutting the leaves where the furniture is drawn and painted; Each item must be carefully cut with scissors. So, we glue the furniture with liquid glue in their respective places as follows..."

The four scenes:

1. Salle à manger
2. Salon
3. Chambre à coucher
4. Cuisine

The contents of the three envelopes:

1. 4 colored dolls
2. 14 colored dresses
3. 18 various accoutrements including a bouquet of flowers; a milk jug; a kettle; a tea service; a mixing bowl; a barrel;
a mug, a looking glass; a cooked turkey; five bread rolls on a plate etc., etc.

A remarkable survivor, the book and the three envelopes, one with the four dolls, one with the fourteen colored dresses and the third with the eighteen various objects all in very near fine condition.

French movable book publisher Guérin-Müller pre-dated Capendu and was in business from 1850 to 1880. A. Capendu published many children's books including Cendrillon; Le Chat Botté; Le Petit Poucet and Contes de Fées.

Exceptionally Rare with no copies located by OCLC - nine other titles in the series are listed; KVK locates just one example listed by Cooperative Library Network Berlin Brandenburg.

Not in Cotsen. Children's Library; Gumuchian. Les Livres de d'Enfance or The Osborne Collection of Children's Books.