Sample Book of the Toy Factory

Exhibit of the Month 12 / 2019

Sample book of the toy factory of Emil Köhler and Sons from Horní and Dolní Jiřetín, dated the year 1870. 

The sample book (50 x 38 cm) contains 201 sheets of cardboard paper with prints of most of the hand-colored toy products. It was bound at the bookbinding shop of L. Löbel in Teplice. 

The previously very damaged sample book was restored in 1991 at the restoration studio of Jana Náprstková in Prague. 

Toy sample books served in the 19th century especially for merchants dealing with this item to present the offered goods, thus ensuring sales for toy manufacturers from both sides of the Ore Mountains. However, the manufacturers themselves also acquired them. The “Jiřetín Toy Sample Book” is a unique document of toy production on the Czech side of the Ore Mountains, which became a typical craft in our region from the second half of the 18th century, especially during the 19th century, employing a large part of the population in the mountainous and foothill areas of Mostecko.