June 1833? J.V. Albert - Die belebte Wunderscheibe (donkey)

Johann Valentin Albert from Frankfurt am Main was among the very first who published stroboscopic discs. On 16 June 1833 he advertised "Die belebte Wunderscheibe" with 12 images in two different qualities in a local newspaper, soon followed by advertisements elsewhere in Germany and even in Holland.
Extant sets of "Die belebte Wunderscheibe - Planétaire Magique - The magic planisphere" have a shutter disc with round viewing holes. This was probably inspired by the elusive first edition of Prof. Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheiben, although the idea of a separate shutter disc must have come from Voigtländer. Several animation designs were clearly copied from Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheiben, while others are versions of discs published by Voigtländer. Giroux & Cie would advertise their first set only days later as "Phénakisticope" and it would include several designs that are similar to those by Stampfer, Voigtländer and Albert. For instance: the center of this disc - a dancing hussar - appeared in combination with the animation of a man in a bicorne hat playing an upright bass in the first set by Giroux, which was almost identical to a set by Voigtländer - probably the second set by Voigtländer as advertised on 1 June 1833. The poorer quality of drawings on the Giroux and Voigtländer discs suggests they may have copied it from Albert, but maybe Albert's animator was simply a better draughtsman. At least the drawings of the teacher on the donkey show that this animator was more skilled than some of his early colleagues.

The disc seen in this animation is preserved in the collection Francois Binetruy.

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