Exhibition “Sempre allegri, Bambini!”

Lothar Meggendorfer and the Movable Book in Italy between the 19th and the 20th century

Meggendorfer’s Movable Books in Italy, 1884-1911   

In Italy, the works of the German artist spread above all thanks to Ulrico Hoepli, who between 1884 and 1911 published seven of Meggendorfer’s books, giving preference to pull-tab movable books. These were relatively expensive volumes, conceived as Christmas gift books, and were produced using a mix of plates taken from several original German titles. Hoepli had them “custom assembled” by the publishers of the original plates (Braun & Schneider, Schreiber and Weise).

A key factor in the success of these books was undoubtedly their playful nature, made explicit right from the titles: Storielline buffe (Funny Little Stories), 1884; Sempre allegri, Bambini! (Always Jolly, Children!), 1886, translated by Pasquale Fornari; Ridete con me! (Laugh with Me!), 1894 and Pupazzi vivi e allegri (Lively, Cheerful Puppets), 1911.

A work of particular importance is Pierino Porcospino Vivente (The Living Shockheaded Peter), 1899, with text by Gaetano Negri: a very rare and almost unknown movable reinterpretation of the famous Struwwelpeter (1844) by Heinrich Hoffmann, whose first Italian translation was published by Hoepli in 1883.

Vallardi, the only other publishing house to bring Meggendorfer’s interactive books to Italy, released in 1898 two of his transformation game books: Lo Zio burlone (The Prankster Uncle) and La Zia allegra (The Cheerful Aunt).

The presence of the artist in Italy was not limited to movable books. In 1891, the Palermo publisher Sandron brought out a large illustrated book inspired by object teaching, which also included three large chromolithographic plates drawn by Meggendorfer.

Research carried out for the exhibition has revealed that the presence of Meggendorfer’s earliest drawings in Italy dates back to 1882. In the prestigious children’s periodical «Il Giornale per i Bambini» («The Children’s Newspaper») – famous above all for having serialized Collodi’s La storia di un Burattino (The Story of a Puppet, 1881-1883) – several cartoons by the German artist appeared, taken from «Münchener Bilderbogen», one of the satirical journals for which he worked as a caricaturist.