Le Cirque Animé. Album-Jeu du Père Castor Flammarion by Mentzel, Albert

Unpaginated volume containing 8 cardstock leaves depicting members of the circus to be cut out and assembled with small paper fasteners such as brads, one side of the cardstock page in chromolithograph, the reverse in black and white with indications as to where to fold and attach the various pieces, the circus figures include an elephant, wrestlers, acrobats, musical clowns, a lion tamer, a juggler, a female circus performer on horseback, and monkeys, with introductory text to inside front and back covers including instructions for assembly. Some very minor scattered browning and soiling, overall excellent. Oblong 8vo. Original illustrated stapled wrpps., very minor soiling. Paris (Flammarion) 1938. Albert Mentzel (also known as Albert Flocon), was a German engraver and artist who studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau under Josef Albers, Paul Klee, and Vassily Kandinsky. He worked as part of Oskar Schlemmer's theater troupe for a time before fleeing Germany for Paris. After emigrating, Mentzel worked at an advertising agency with Victor Vasarely before being imprisoned during World War II. His wife and daughter died in Auschwitz and Albert managed to escape from prison, returning to Paris with his two surviving children in 1945 where he changed his name to Flocon. In 1949 he founded an engraving workshop, Atelier de l'Ermitage. This volume dates to fairly early in Mentzel's career, shortly after his arrival in France. Very scarce; as of January 2019, WorldCat does not locate a single holding in North America.