I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Allo! Allo! Bostock
Paris: A. Capendu Editeur, 1900. Item #05358
Scholarly Animals "Living the Good Life"
[MOVABLE]. REYNAUD, Adeline. Allo, Allo! Bostock. Grand Album d'Animaux Savants. Paris: A. Capendu-Editeur, [n.d., ca. 1900].
Folio (14 3/8 x 9 1/2 inches; 365 x 240 mm.). Lithograph title-page (recto of page [2] and six full-page colored lever-operated moveable plates, each with text illustrations on verso. Text beneath each illustration. Gray cloth over color pictorial boards. Very scarce.
The first plate showing an elephant in top hat and tails talking on the telephone, entitled Allo - Allo! The second plate entitled La Lecon de Lecture, shows two grown cats and two kittens in a classroom, the third plate entitled Un Artiste Original, shows a donkey standing in front of an easel, painting a picture. The fourth plate shows a cat and a dog playing billiards, La Partie de Billard. The fifth plate, La Lecon de Chant, shows a goat holding some sheet music and another animal with a long tail, (a monkey?) wearing spectacles and sitting at a piano. The sixth plate, Le Dentiste has a horse as the dentist in the title and a cow as his patient.
This delightful movable has wonderfully vivid plates portraying comical animals as they go about "living the good life".
Apart from a few minor and mainly marginal repairs is in excellent condition. The original stitching is a little loose but sound.
OCLC locates just one copy in libraries and institutions worldwide: University of Chicago (IL, US).
We have only seen one other example of this movable which we sold in 2001.
Adeline Reynaud wrote several comic animal stories, including at least two movable books including Allo! Allo! Bostock. Grand Album d'Animaux Savants and Jack l'incorrigible et son chien Puck.
Price: $3,500.00