[CHILDREN’S GAME] Histoire naturelle

[France : s.n., circa 1900]. Wooden box with hinged lid, 400 x 350 x 60 mm, original decorative paper covering with chromolithographed onlay to lid, with the title ‘Histoire naturelle‘ lettered in gold on red; the box contains 72 wooden puzzle cubes with chromolithographed paper surfaces, from which the child can potentially create a total of 36 different composite pictures of animals and peoples of the world; the names of the subjects are printed in French in the images on the cube faces; the cubes are accompanied by the game manufacturer’s 36 sheets (each 195 x 150 mm) with chromolithographs of each completed scene, which essentially provide the child with a key to all of the pictures they can put together. An Australian Aborigine is one of the people-types depicted (along with Native American, European, Arab, Chinese, Eskimo, Malay, and African types); among the many exotic animals are depictions of kangaroos, the platypus, the cassowary, the kiwi and the cockatoo. The game is complete; the cubes are in excellent condition with only light handling wear, and the loosely enclosed sheets have only occasional marks at the margins; the original box, which is still sturdy and has its two original working brass clasps, has some corner wear and a few abrasions, and a closed split along one of the bottom edges.