1937. Small folio, pp. [iv] descriptive text printed in blue on thick card on mounted linen guards, with 40 anaglyphic plates printed on glazed card in red and green for 3-D viewing; cards loose as issued, with some light edgewear and flaking of glaze but otherwise images strong and bright; together with five pairs of 3-D glasses preserved in the original printed enveloped, housed within a pocket on inside front cover, a couple of pairs of glasses a little creased; housed within the original grey cloth portfolio, upper cover lettered in gilt, head and tail of spine somewhat worn and torn, with some loss of cloth though holding firm, covers a little scuffed and soiled, with further minor wear to extremities; a striking work. First edition of this striking optical work published by Prague zoo, and making use of 3-D anaglyphic images to bring to life forty of their exotic animals and birds, creating an almost realistic personal ‘zoo’. Housed within a custom made cloth portfolio, in includes four pages of text printed on thick card, with an introduction by Professor Jirí Janda, Director of the zoo. Five pairs of glasses are here preserved in the original printed enveloped, housed within a small pocket in the inside front cover. They encourage the reader to ‘look with both eyes’ by ‘holding your right hand close to your eyes... at a certain distance in front of your eyes depending on your visual ability... never touch the coloured lenses of the glasses. They will become opaque over time’.
An anaglyph consists of two differently filtered coloured images, one for each eye, and drawn in chromatically opposite colours (usually red and cyan). When viewed through the stereoscopic glasses, the picture revealed is an amalgamation of the two images, and gives the impression of a black figure in three dimensions. Two early proponents in France were Josepeh d’Almeida (1822-1880), and Louis Ducos du Hauron (1837-1920) who produced the first printed anaglyphs in 1891. Though not an early use of the technique, the present publication attests to the enduring novelty value and popularity.