Peepshows: A Visual History - gebunden oder broschiert

Look around the room. Now leave the room, close the door, and look through the keyhole. See how dramatically the view of the room changes. This manipulation of space, and the allure of entering a secret world from a single vantage point, explains the long fascination with peepshows. From the 16th century onward, peepshow boxes provided rich and varied entertainment and education for wide and appreciative audiences in city streets and village squares in Europe, the United States, China, and Japan. This is the first survey of this once enormously popular form of entertainment. Conceived by artists and scientists nearly 500 years ago, peepshows featured scenes of a nation's history, wonders of the ancient world, and panoramas of faraway places that amused and informed. Peepshowmen trundled their boxes far and wide to earn a living, and competed with other itinerant street entertainers for the attention of a crowd, until the peepshow virtually disappeared with the advent of movies at the turn ofthe 20th century. This history is illustrated with superb photographs of varied peepshow boxes, the pictures that appeared inside them, and a rich collection of antique engravings, drawings, posters, and prints -- many never before reproduced -- that reveal how peepshows were used and the way they appeared in everyday life. Author RICHARD BALZER, a collector of peepshow paraphernalia, provides a lively text. An exceptional copy; fine in an equally fine dw, now mylar-sleeved. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Literally as new.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 160 pages; Description: 160 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm. Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Peep shows --History.