Activity books | Cotsen Children’s Library

Respectively: Cotsen 2333, 1616, 14315 (Oldenburg : Gerhard Stalling, [ca. 1921])

Nürnberger Puppenstubenspielbuch is not only a mouthful of German, it’s also the title of a wonderful slot book by Else Wenz-Viëtor. Literally translated as: Nuremberg dollhouse game book, the three books pictured above are consecutive editions (auflage in German) three, four, and five; all published in the early 1920’s.

Slot books (sometimes, unfortunately, referred to as “slotty books” in England) are part doll house and part book. While they are clearly a codex, pages or spreads feature illustrated backgrounds (often of a domestic nature) with little or no text. Each book is accompanied by any number of cut-out figures which can be fit into slots on the pages. These figures are often people and various objects which can be fit into the book in order to, by the powers of the user’s imagination, form scenes or narratives about the figures and their background environment. Essentially then, slot books serve as a kind of two dimensional (and much more transportable) doll house.

Nürnberger Puppenstubenspielbuch features six household scenes, each occupying their own double page spread. The book runs through a middle class German household, from the front hallway, to a parlor, a bedroom, a nursery, the kitchen, and the backyard garden.

The parlor, spread 2

The nursery, spread 4

In addition to the obvious slots necessarily present in any slot book, Nürnberger also includes various flaps. Here, figures can be places behind doors, in ovens, in cabinets, etc. Since these flaps need to be manipulated in order for the figures behind them to be revealed, this kind of interaction allows for a sense of motion and time to be introduced into a particular scene.

a door flap and an oven door flap in the parlor, spread 3

The door flap and the oven door flap in the parlor, spread 2

We recently received a reference question regarding the figure cut-outs that belong to the different editions (sparking this blog post in the first place). As it turns out, there are some slight cosmetic differences between the three editions that we have here at Cotsen.

As you can tell from the picture at top, the fourth edition has a blue spine while editions three and five have red spines. Since this blue spine is so much worse for wear than the other contemporary editions, it might indicate that the publisher attempted to save money by cutting a corner in production. But with our sample size so small, we can’t be sure about the spine color or material of different editions or printings.

The editions have different figures as well. The varying number of figures between our different copies, however, has more to do with time than it does with production choices. Many cut-outs have simply been lost or damaged with use.

All the figures with edition 3. Nürnberger Puppenstubenspielbuch. Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling, [ca. 1921] (Cotsen 2333)

All the figures with edition 4, Cotsen 1616

All the figures with edition 4. Nürnberger Puppenstubenspielbuch. Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling, [ca. 1921] (Cotsen 1616)

All the figures with edition 5, Cotsen 14315

All the figures with edition 5. Nürnberger Puppenstubenspielbuch. Oldenberg: Gerhard Stalling, [ca. 1921] (Cotsen 14315)

As you can tell by comparing the pictures, some of the surviving figures from the third edition do look different from the later two editions. The little girl, the housekeeper, and the nanny have a different appearance.

While the fourth and fifth editions overlap in all but a few extra outfits and objects (though light and time have affected the figures differently), you’ll probably notice that the fifth edition includes some extra guests in the bottom left of the picture. These figures are from a different slot book and must have been introduced by a former owner. Besides the obvious coloring differences, they are made of much thinner paper.

Figures from other sources, replacements, and custom cut-outs were often introduced by savvy children more interested in play than collection. As a result, those who do collect slot books often find an array of outside material.

Now, with the technical exposition out of the way, what blog post about slot books would be complete without a little fun scene making?

Young Hans loses control of the parlor while babysitting his sister Helga.

Here little Odetta fails at quietly playing tea with her dolly and wakes the babes in the nursery.

With such a variety of backgrounds and figures slot books could potentially provide hours of imagination and fun. I, at least, had some fun making my own scenes and I hope you enjoyed learning about Nürnberger Puppenstubenspielbuch.

It’s easy to assume that there’s a clear, if perhaps only implicit, dividing line between books, toys, and ephemera. While we may not necessarily know how to define each of these categories, we tend to think we “know them when we see them.” Books are something we read, toys are something we (mostly by children) play with, and ephemera are things we expect to linger only fleetingly after serving an immediate purpose.

Embossed chromolithographed upper wrapper of Tuck’s “Toy Army.” The Toy Army. London: Raphael Tuck & Sons, [between 1907 and 1910] (Cotsen 152123)

Yet many children’s books call this distinction into question–they often contain reading matter, items to play with (which sometimes pop up or even detach from the text block or book itself), and material not meant to last very long, especially once a child makes use of it.

One such item is The Toy Army, issued by Raphael Tuck & Sons between 1907 and 1910¹, as part of Father Tuck’s “Panorama” Series. Measuring a mere 12 cm. in height, this small booklet-format publication is barely taller than a miniature book. It features a bright, chromolithographed upper wrapper, featuring two toy soldier figures (note the base on the guardsman), strongly reminiscent of lead figures manufactured in England’s William Britain Company at the time, with the outlines of the figures embossed to heighten the effect. On the reverse of the wrapper is a set of detailed assembly instructions, “How to Make Each Figure Stand Separately and Form Innumerable Tableaux.” Following, is a little four-page poem with the caption title, “The Little Wooden Soldier of the Toy Army,” which begins:

Only a little Wooden Soldier,
Ready the foe to fight,
Battling for King and Country,
Striving with all his might.

“Instructions” on inside wrapper, the beginning of the poem, and the first leaf of toy soldiers folded-out (joined to green bases as shown here). (Cotsen 152123)

While most of the poem extols the bravery and sense of duty of the anthropomorphized toy soldier, marching off to serve, a touch of pathos is added later by the lines which refocus the poem on his qualities as a toy–an object of play–marred by child’s play.

Here comes the little Wooden Soldier,
Well he has played his part,
But faded and worn his paint is,
Uniform no more smart.

Now see the little Wooden Soldier…
There on the Nurs’ry floor.

The poignant view of the cast off little toy solder is somewhat reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen’s earlier “Steadfast Tin Soldier.” But in Tuck’s poem, the story ultimately has a happy ending for the little Wooden Soldier, rewarded for his service with repainting:

And once more he’s been painted
A handsome blue and red.

Following the poem is a six-leaf cardboard accordion-fold, including five leaves of chromolithographed mounted hussars, guardsmen, and military bandsmen toy soldiers–most mustachioed and one wearing a monocle.

Five-leaf accordion-fold with toy soldiers for readers to cut out, assemble, and arrange in “innumerable tableaux.” (Cotsen 152123)

All are depicted standing on toy bases, including rollers in the case of the mounted figures, which perhaps helped their three-dimensional inspirations roll along–a significantly “interactive” feature for a 19th century toy! Apart from inhabiting in the same general realm of toy soldiers, they have no apparent connection to the verse text.

Regimental flag-bearing mustachioed guardsman, replete with monocle. (Cotsen 152123)

A sixth green color-printed leaf adds punch-out bases for the figures “in different sizes to fit the different objects,” as the Instructions detail, which are intended to enable the cut-out figures to stand. The plain gray obverse of this leaf serves as the book’s lower wrapper, and a thin piece of white publisher’s tape binds the accordion-fold and upper wrapper together. While the book’s imprint identifies it as having been “designed in England,” it also specifies that is was “printed in Berlin,” so it’s certainly quite possible that the depictions of the toy soldiers recall designs of lead figures in Germany, where they were also very popular children’s toys at the time, as well as those in England.

The fact that the Cotsen copy is in almost perfect condition, certainly a plus for the world of bibliography, suggests that it never served the purpose for which it was printed: serving as a child’s play-thing. Otherwise, this ephemeral piece of reading matter/plaything would likely only have survived in publisher’s catalogs or second-hand descriptions.

The Toy Army, is identified as part of Father Tuck’s “Panorama” Series on its upper wrapper, as is the similarly-formatted Cotsen copy of Tuck’s: Beauty and the Beast, which also has an embossed chromolithographed cover, a page of assembly instructions on the inside front wrapper, four pages of text, and a six-leaf accordion fold (comprised of five chromolithographed leaves of figures to cut out and a leaf of green punch-out bases.

Tuck’s “Panorama Series” Beauty and the Beast, with several chromolithographed leaves opened out, including those showing a teddy-bear-like beast before, and after, his transformation. Beauty and the Beast. New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, [190-] (Cotsen 4465)

Neither of these books presents a broad panoramic view meant to be displayed once a reader opens up a number of conjoint fold-out leaves (much less, a larger scene on rollers) but some of Tuck’s other titles in this series seem to have been “panoramas” in the more usual sense of the term. Tuck apparently produced several series that included either panorama items or books with fold-out leaves to be cut out, including Father Tuck’s “Panorama” Series, which included at least eight titles, and the “slightly later” Father Tuck’s Picture Panoramas, which included a slightly different group of titles and a set of printed instructions similar to those shown above.²

One of the Toy Army’s accordion-fold leaves also includes a small shield printed with the number “5,” which at first seems as if it might be part of regimental information about the toy soldiers. But since Beauty and the Beast has a similar shield with the number “6,” these would seem to be series or publisher numbers. Once again, having a couple of similar books to compare side-by-side yields information that would be difficult, if not impossible, to deduce from a single item.

Interior leaves from The Toy Army and Beauty and the Beast: title numbers 5 and 6 in “Father Tuck’s ‘Panorama’ Series”?

Notes:

Date based on the opening of Tuck’s Berlin and Montreal offices in 1907 and imprint’s wording (“Their Majesties The King & Queen…”), which was used until 1910 (cf. Whitton, B. & M., Collector’s Guide to Raphael Tuck & Sons, p. 6).

Whitton, p. 8-9, 164-5.

Title: The toy army.

Published/Created: London ; Paris ; Berlin ; New York ; Montreal : Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., publishers to Their Majesties The King & Queen, & T.R.H. the Prince & Princess of Wales, [between 1907 and 1910] (Printed in Berlin)

Description: [4] p., [7] leaves : col. ill (chromolithographs) ; 12 cm.

Series: Father Tuck’s “panorama” series

Cotsen Children’s Library

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Category Archives: Activity books

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