Little Pet's ABC Panorama.

New York: McLoughlin Bros., [n.d., ca. 1870] First edition. The illustrations seem to be the same as those that appear in the McLoughlin children's book Major's Alphabet (1870). Original wooden box with color-printed paper onlay. Two wooden knobs on the side of the box allow readers to turn through the scroll. Box (7 x 7 x 1 ") containing paper scroll (approx. 5" wide). . Scroll is color-printed with twenty-six vignettes, one for each letter of the alphabet, with accompanying verse ("B is for Benjamin, making a bow"). Illustrated by William Momberger. Some rubbing to edges and soiling. Old crack to box lid repaired with adhesive. Bottom of box reinforced with tape at two corners. A child's old pencil scribbles to bottom. Scroll itself is clean and bright. A very good copy. Companies like McLoughlin Bros. in New York and Milton Bradley in Massachusetts employed creative formats for alphabet books during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The present item is an unusual book that introduces an element of tactile play to learning the alphabet. While McLoughlin, Milton Bradley, and other companies were distributing these alphabet books, the Educational Toy Manufacturing Company, also in Massachusetts, experimented with a movable metal multiplication tool "Consul the Educated Monkey," and British company H.G. Clarke released their "Magic Toymaker" booklet, which could be assembled into a paper puppet. These books utilized the concept of learning through play, a staple of early childhood education since Friedrich Froebel innovated the kindergarten in early nineteenth century.