H.V - The Speaking Picture Book, 1ère Édition originale. - 1880

The Speaking Picture Book, 1st Original Edition H.V., 1880.
The talking picture book – An entertainment for the dear little ones in pictures, words, and sounds.
First edition, very rare, 9 voices perfectly functional.
The Speaking Picture Book. A new picture book with characteristic voices.
H.V. (Howard, Valentine & Co. ?), 1880, large original English/German edition, produced in very small numbers.
Format 32cm × 24cm x 6cm.
Original binding: thick decorated cardboard, cloth spine.
8 color plates + 1 frontispiece (depending on the edition).
Mechanism with 9 lateral pulls activating internal bellows, imitating 9 human and animal voices (mother, father, boy, girl, goat, bird, cow, rooster, cuckoo – variants).
Fully mechanical acoustic system based on phonetic boxes made of cardboard and metal.
Complete with the 9 functional tricks.
Les 9 voix, at this point, places it in the top 1% of surviving exemplars.
Very clear noises.
Clean cartonage, original decor present.
Light normal signs of use
Interior very good, fresh colors.
A specimen in such good mechanical condition is extremely rare.
The Speaking Picture Book is considered one of the very first mechanical 'sound' books for children (a proto-sound book, before Edison).
A museum object (examples at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Staatsbibliothek, Morgan Library).
Very fragile, fewer than 30 complete and fully functional examples recorded on the market in the past 50 years.
Photos are an integral part of the description.
Shipping via Chronopost or another method depending on the country, with insurance.