Lothar Meggendorfer (1847-1925) was a illustrator for Fliegende Blätter and Münchener Bilderbogen. During the late 1800s, he began designing and illustrating mechanical piture-books for children, and is considered the creator and chief innovator of moveable toy books. The collection consists of manuscripts and proofs of illustrations, covers, texts, and two books created by Meggendorfer.

Meggendorfer was born on November 6, 1847 in Munich, Germany; after technical art studies, he became an illustrator for Fliegende Blätter and Münchener Bilderbogen; during the late 1800s, he began designing and illustrating mechanical piture-books for children; is considered the creator and chief innovator of moveable toy books; publications include Immer Lustig!: ein Ziehbilderbuch (ca. 1886) and All alive: a moveable toybook (ca. 1894); he died in 1925 in Munich.Meggendorfer was born on November 6, 1847 in Munich, Germany. Most of the books he illustrated were mechanical books for children, but Meggendorfer's humorous illustrations also appeared in conventional books and in the humor periodicals of Fliegende Blatter and the Munchener Bilderbogen. What distinguished Lothar Meggendorfer's books and what has come to be regarded as his genius was his ability to create mechanical books with intricate and realistic movements that had both humor or grace. Most of his mechanicals are tab operated with as many as 6 hinged pieces moving simultaneously; some are slatted mechanisms whereby the upper illustration magically dissolves to reveal a new and related illustration. Some have revolving discs and one has a three-dimensional head exposed through a hole in the pages. The most fabulous and elaborate books are his Internationaler Circus and Das Puppenhaus (The Doll's House). These ingenious pop-out panoramas deceptively present themselves as simple book -size objects when closed, only to become astonishing multi-dimensional detailed fold-out panoramas. Because he was so successful in his own lifetime, the demand for his books was great. Many of Meggendorfer's books went into to several printings and were published in England, France, Italy, Spain, Russia and even a few in the United States. In addition, it was not uncommon to find the same mechanical illustration used in different books. By the time that he died in 1925 in Munich, he had illustrated more than 100 books.

2 boxes (1 linear ft.) 5 oversize boxes

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.