Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR, CHILD'S TOY]. Myriopticon: A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion , [Springfield, Mass.: Milton Bradley, ca.1865?]. A cardboard box (8 1/8 x 5 x 2 in.), front with cut-out in the shape of a proscenium, borders with hand-colored lithographic images of a theater interior (curtains, play-goers and musicians), sides covered in black paper. Inside, a hand-colored lithographic panorama of 22 dramatic Civil War scenes on two rollers, two turned wooden knobs at top (edges a bit rubbed, minor discoloration, one knob loose). [With:] A sheet of lithographed tickets (6 rows of 7) "Admit the bearer to the Myriopticon" (one ticket cut away). THE MYRIOPTICON: A CHILD'S CIVIL WAR TOY. An ingenious miniature theater which allowed children to replicate the popular oversize painted theatrical panoramas of the day. The Myriopticon scroll contains a total of 22 different Civil War scenes including: the firing on Fort Sumter, the death of Col. Ellsworth (see lots 261 and 262), vivid battle scenes, cavalry attacks, steamboats on the Mississippi, sinking of the Columbia by a rebel ironclad, the duel of the Monitor and Merrimack , field hospitals, a sharpshooter in a tree (copied from Winslow Homer's famous wood-engraving), contrabands (former slaves) escaping, the burning of an unidentified city (Richmond?), etc. Turning the knobs at the top of the box advances the scroll in the cut-out to display the scenes in sequence. The toy apparently came with tickets, a poster and a script (these last two not present). For an interactive version of The Myriopticon, see Private Passions: Public Legacy. Paul Mellon's Personal Collection at the University of Virginia http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/mellon/slavery.html