Großes mechanisches Kunstkabinet - 1839

Automata. - Announcement. With official approval I shall have the honor to show my large mechanical art cabinet in the hall of the Black Eagle. (Signatory:) Steinl, Jr. from Nuremberg. (Munich), 6 March 1839. A single-sheet print with typographic text in a woodcut border. On blue paper. Page size: 35.5 x 22 cm.

In the introduction, 10 figures are described with their astonishing abilities; among others, “The old Franke gets onto the rope with a filled bottle together with a drinking glass, and will, which is certainly remarkable, pour himself a drink, then drain it, and assume the posture of a drunken man.” - For the finale are shown “Three wax figures in life size,” Christ with Mary and Joseph, which depict a scene. - The mechanic Johann Steinl from Nuremberg is historically hard to pin down; he seems to have unsuccessfully tested one of his constructed wagons on the route of the first German railway in 1837.