Das Puppenhaus

Essingen & Munich: F.F. Schreiber, 1911. A Fantastic Movable Pop-Up Panorama Dolls house by Lothar Meggendorfer

MEGGENDORFER, Lothar. Das Puppenhaus [The Dolls House]. Eine Festgabe für brave Mädchen [A Celebration for good Girls]. No. 109. Essingen & Munich: F.F. Schreiber, no date, circa 1911.

Oblong quarto (8 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches; 215 x 260 mm.). Five fine full-color lithographed pop-up scenes. A few inconsequential creases and a few small expert repairs, otherwise near fine.

Publisher's glazed color pictorial boards with original red cloth hinges. a wonderful example of this very rare toy.

This pop-up panorama opens to form five scenes some of which need opening or unfolding by the child. There are two outside and three detailed interior rooms of a doll's house. As unfolded to its full length of four feet, people, furniture, and even fixtures pop-out and each of the scenes is rich in detail. There is even a piano with a bust of Beethoven on the top. See Haining (pp. 122-128) who reproduces the French edition of the entire panorama called Maison de Poupée.

Due to its popularity it was issued over the years with a few changes to reflect the times; for instance the gypsy cart is replaced here by a motor car. It is rare to find any mechanical that has survived the little hands of children, in such wonderful condition. This is certainly one of the most elaborate and charming of the mechanicals issued by Lothar Meggendorfer.

The five movable scenes are as follows:

1. A two-sided corner scene showing the exterior of two houses. On the left is a motor car and several people, and on the right in front of a house with a clear plastic window and an opening door are two pop-up figures, a woman with a flask of wine on a tray and a man standing holding his bicycle.

2. A three-sided shop scene with an opening door and a clear plastic window on the left wall, A pop-up shopkeeper and [his wife] behind a pop-up framed counter. In front of the counter is a pop-up woman customer with her small child and a dog. On the right hand wall are three pop-up barrels and also an opening door.

3. A three-sided wood-paneled room with an opening door on the left. Two pop-up women, one holding a small child are seated at a pop-up table. On the right wall is a pop-up pianoforte with a bust of Beethoven above and a small pop-up seated boy playing. There is also an opening door.

4. A three-sided 'kitchen scene' with an opening door on the left wall, a pop-up kitchen cabinet and stove with a mother, daughter and small cat, and on the right-hand wall a small pop-up desk with a bin and a washing basket. There is also an opening door.

5. A two-sided corner 'courtyard' scene with an opening door on the left and a pop-up woman (replaced head) and her child standing in front of a gated fence, feeding birds. There is also a pop-up dog and a pop-up of three chickens.

See Haining pp. 122-128.