Cenerentola
£366.00 GBP
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£366.00 GBP
Regular price
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An Italian pop-up carousel Cinderella, designed by a La Scala scenographer
Zampini, Mario (designer); Perrault, Charles (after)
Cenerentola
Libroteatro Hoepli
1940, Milano (Milan), Grafitalia (già Pizzi & Pizio); Officine Grafiche Sagdos
First Edition
£366.00 GBP
Sale price
£366.00 GBP
Regular price
Overview
In 4to, oblong. Ff. [6] pop-up plates
First edition of Hoepli's extraordinary Libroteatro (Book-Theater) a book/carousel/miniature stage designed by La Scala scenographer Mario Zampini. Hoepli had published fourteen movable books between 1879 and 1910, all imported from German houses, and then nothing for thirty years. The Libriteatro productions of 1940 broke that silence with an Italian production, designed by Zampini, painted by Raimondo Centurione, and printed and bound in Milan. Zampini built the fairy tale as he built opera. Each of the six scenes is a proscenium, its curtain raised and its scenery receding on cut-card planes; swing the boards completely around and fasten them together, and the book becomes a carousel, six theatrical wedges standing open at once. Hoepli intended it to be installed rather than merely shelved, supplying instructions for mounting it on a wooden block with a spindle so that the theaters could revolve, illuminated from directly above through a cone of card. The instruction leaflet is not preserved with this copy (hardly unusual for an ephemeral piece accompanying a children's book). Two inscriptions place this copy within a single wartime Christmas. On 21 December 1944, Rita and Ivo wished a pregnant acquaintance "un bel bambino" (a fine baby). Inside, in English and in another hand, what appears to be a father's inscription addresses a child yet to be born by either of the names it might need, Jamie or Judy, not yet knowing which. These two wartime notes give this little paper theater an unexpectedly tender context.
Inside the book
Six scenes carry Perrault's Cinderella from the fairy at the pumpkin to the wedding, each built as a stage: a pleated rose proscenium with its curtain up, the action set back on cut-card planes so that the depth is real rather than drawn, and a caption printed in white across the apron beneath, handing the story on to the scene that follows. They range from the cottage door, where Cinderella stands in white brocade shot through with silver and geese scatter under the wheels of the waiting coach, to a hall of scrolled rococo boxes, with a double stair climbing behind to a garden pavilion; elsewhere, a herald and his six trumpeters proclaim the King's word. The sequence closes on the wedding, celebrated with great pomp and great gladness. The front pastedown is printed in red on rose, with an open book framing a proscenium lettered "C'era una volta" (Once upon a time), the whole cast of the fairy tales streaming out of it on horseback and on foot. The rear board carries the device of the series, an open book framing a proscenium lettered "Libro Teatro Hoepli," with Ulrico Hoepli's UH monogram below it and the published price, "Netto L. 40" (Net L. 40), blind-stamped at the foot. As issued, two further pieces accompanied the carousel, neither preserved with this copy: a booklet setting out the tale in prose; and a leaflet giving the publisher's instructions for staging the book, mounting the Libroteatro on a wooden block pierced by a small spindle so that the six theaters could revolve around it, and lighting it from directly above through a cone of card.
Condition
Pictorial card boards, with a tan linen spine lettered in brown. Leather closures present but broken. Boards rubbed at the margins. Small splits at the fold hinges of the pink "proscenium panels," some repaired in the past with common tape, others more recently with archival tape; all pieces complete. Wanting the booklet and instruction leaflet issued with the carousel; the card pocket on the front pastedown survives. Presentation inscription in ink on the front board, in Italian: "Rita e Ivo alla Signora [illegible] con l'augurio di un bel bambino" (Rita and Ivo to Mrs. [illegible], with wishes for a fine baby), dated 21-12-44; one word, possibly a location, struck through. A second inscription, in another hand, on the front pastedown, in English: "To 'Jamie' or 'Judy' from 'dad' Italy, 1944" (quotation marks sic). A sound copy of a delicate artifact typically handled by children. Very good.
Dimensions (inches): 10 x 9 x 1 1/4
Why La Fenice likes it
For centuries Cinderella stayed flat on the page; in 1940 Hoepli handed her to a La Scala scenographer and she came back standing up, six paper-stages deep. Maybe we like it because we would have wanted it as children, or because it takes us straight back there. But it is also wonderfully operatic - and we do love opera (yes, stereotypical Italians here). Then there are those two sweet wartime notes, which gave us exactly the feel-good reason we needed to make it part of our collection. We all need fairy tales and good vibes these days, don't we?
About the author
Mario Zampini (Florence, 1905-1963) was a scenographer and illustrator who illustrated five titles in the "La Scala d'Oro" series and drew for "Il Corriere dei Piccoli." Raimondo Centurione (dates unknown) was an Italian illustrator active from the late 1930s into the 1950s; his work includes Garzanti's anthology "Le muse" (1953).
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