774 - Meggendorfer, L. (and C. A. Hennig).

Meggendorfer, L. (and C. A. Hennig). Princess Rosenhold. A pull-out picture book by Lothar Meggendorfer. Esslingen and Munich, J. F. Schreiber, n.d. (1901). Landscape 4° (27 x 36 cm). [2] leaves (text) and 6 color lithographic plates with movable parts. Color-illustrated half-linen binding. (Publisher’s No. 108). Breitschwerdt 106. Katzenbach 274. Krahé 115 and p. 165 (with ill.). LKJ II, 460. Ries 714, 120. — First edition. - “Two of the most beautiful picture books from Meggendorfer’s late work, strongly influenced by Art Nouveau, are *Prince Liliput* and *Princess Rosenhold*, both of which feature not only moving illustrations but also a coherent plot. Princess Rosenhold is a true puppet show that lets us share in the princess’s encounters with a humming top, two Chinese figures, the devil from the box, and the Nutcracker King, before she is picked up from Toyland by Prince Liliput in an oak-leaf carriage drawn by butterflies. It goes almost without saying that all the butterflies flap their wings when the pull tab is moved. However, this last of Meggendorfer’s animated picture books is remarkable in yet another respect. Although Pocchi’s influence is still clearly evident, the illustrations already foreshadow the visual language of animated film that Walt Disney would later develop many years later” (quoted from Puppet Theater Museum, p. 23, No. 121, and Krahé, p. 165). - Meggendorfer’s preeminent importance in the field of animated picture books remains undisputed. He is regarded as the wittiest and most imaginative creator of animated picture books and other book curiosities. “Thanks to a cleverly devised mechanism, his pull-out picture books are true masterpieces of pantomime unfolding on the pages of a book” (H. Krahé in LKJ). - Spine and endpapers professionally restored; cover dusty and slightly stained; finger stains on the page margins and pull-tab strips in places; still a very good copy with all moving parts intact and fully functional.