An exceptionally rare and early picture-alphabet that was meant as a children’s home reading exercise as well as a toy game. The myriorama is in fact a kind of cross connection between toy and picture-book. In this example the Myriorama consists of 24 engravings charmingly coloured by hand and mounted on cards measuring 12 x 5,5 cm. and housed in an original board box with letterpress title.
Myriorama means in fact ‘thousands of views’ and the idea is to arrange the cards every time in a different order. The German bookdealer Friedrich Campe (Berlin) was a publisher of various kinds of ‘Unterhaltungsspiele’ and was one of the first to publish a Myriorama around 1815. In every possible arrangement of the cards, there will emerge another correct landscape.
In the background of the Alphabetical Myriorama, we see a mountain peak or church tower, sometimes a lighthouse, cave or castle in the background. A river on which ships sail flows past this. In the foreground we see a road along the water as well as a green strip. Here are farmers making hay, horsemen, a cow driver, soldiers, farmers with horse and cart, a sheepherder with his flock, a group of chimney sweeps and children playing. The bottom strip contains the printed letters of the alphabet in upper and lower case (except Q and X), and the numbers 1 to 24. Again, the rectangular cards can be placed in any order and will always depict a new story. While playing with this myriorama, the child could 'learn' not only the diversity of a landscape, the colorful mix of people, but especially the shape of the letters and numbers and possibly make words with the individual letters. (paraphrased from Buijnsters/ Buijnsters-Smets, Lust en Leering).