[CHILDREN’S MOVABLE.] Dean’s Moveable Dog’s Party.

Dean's Dancing Dogs

[CHILDREN’S MOVABLE.] Dean’s Moveable Dog’s Party. London: Dean & Son. [1857.]

8vo. Publisher’s illustrated boards depicting dogs at a dinner party to upper and publisher’s advertisements to lower for ‘Dean & Son’s Coloured Sixpenny Books’, light orange endpapers with publisher’s printed advertisements for ‘Interesting and Instructive Works’; ff. [16], handcoloured moveable illustrations and text to 8 ff. with interleaved blanks pasted to conceal rivets; slight wear to extremities, corners bumped; interleaved blanks sometime reattached to verso of illustrated pages, some movements a little stiff, ff. [1] appears to be lacking a dog’s tail, but otherwise all moveable parts present and moving, some rusting of rivets, but otherwise illustrations very bright and clean; very good.

A very early example of an English children’s moveable book with hand-coloured illustrations actuated by rivets operated from a single pull-tab, recounting the tale of a dog’s party.

Dean & Son are typically credited as the first to produce a movable book with rivets in England with their publication of Red Riding Hood (c. 1857), making this one of their earlier experiments with the format. The publisher’s advertisements do not reference other movable books which likewise suggests an early publication, and the publisher’s code to the rear board indicates that this copy was published in November 1857.

In Dean’s Moveable Dog’s Party, Dash the dog decides to host a summer party for his canine friends. Two guests of honour are Mr Pincher, described as ‘a bit of a beau’, and Miss Flora, who arrives in a striking silk dress. However, disaster strikes when a messy pug tips a bowl of hot soup on her, and the footman (a monkey) is unfairly dismissed. This unfortunate incident is swiftly forgotten after a rat pie is brought out for the guests.

Like many of Dean & Son’s publications, this story serves as a lesson in social conduct, emphasising the importance of decorum throughout and reflecting the broader aims of Victorian children’s publishers in conveying societal expectations to young readers: the dogs ‘are polite, | They understood manners, and knew what was right’, and even the terrier ‘had the sense to be quiet, | For when ladies are present there should be no riot.’

The work is also found under the titles The Dog’s Grand Dinner Party and The Dogs’ Grand Party. Perhaps owing to the expense of manufacturing, Dean & Son would produce several variant bindings and titles, seemingly produced later, all retaining the same content and illustrations.

Montanaro, p. 79

SKU: 2120137