Aesop’s Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE.
I picked up the following ‘Dioramas Plegables’ (Folding Dioramas) in a small lot of ephemera last year. The dioramas were published in Barcelona, Spain, by Ediciones Barsal. I suppose they might be loosely described as ‘optical toys’. There is no visible publishing date, but two Spanish websites I found dated them between the 1930s and 40s.
The three I have are numbered #7, #13 and #15, and are about the size of a paperback novel when opened. The ‘pop-up’ parts are quite fragile – the poor dog in ‘The Thief and the Dog’ diorama is standing up by virtue of only one leg, and there seems to be a ‘food item’ part missing. The other two are in good condition for their age, and all three come in their original protective envelopes with instructions.
Fábulas de Esopo (Aesop’s Fables) folding dioramas. Ediciones Barsal. Spain.
N° 15. El Leon Rey. The Lion King.
The Lion King.
N° 15 envelope front cover and rear cover with instructions.
N° 13. El Ladron Y El Perro. The Thief and the Dog.
N° 7 and N° 13 envelopes.
N° 7. El Pastor mentiroso. The Lying Pastor.
Dioramas Plegables (Folding Dioramas) range.
And the moral of today’s post?
“Inside small envelopes might be wondrous things; you never know what might pop-up!”
Thanks for looking 🙂
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
These are pretty wonderful… particularly like the envelopes!
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Soo jealous of these – but grateful to you posting!
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Thank you. The envelopes themselves don’t suggest too much – but once you take out the contents and open them up they’re magcal.
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Hi TVTA, what an interesting find these dioramas are! I had seen “pop-up” books before but not these Fables versions. The artwork remind me of the old Disney classic animations background images.
p.s. None of the colours on my sabers run!
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Hi FT. They made a fair few in the range. Agree, they do have a bit of Disney look to them.
Glad to hear your sabers don’t run in the wash 🙂
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I adore these! Really a fab find and post! Thank you! (poor doggy, my fave one) 😀 x
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RE-posted on twitter @trefology
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Thanks for the Tweet, Tref 🙂
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I love the masked bandit and the dog. There appears to be blood on the sword though I think that is just run off from his cape. That leads me to believe the bandit probably mixed the two together in the washing machine.
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Good eye! The metalsmith’s washing label clearly stated not to mix swords with fabrics at more than 30 degrees!
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