The monkey theatre
1894
Lothar Meggendorfer brings a chaotic dinner party to life with a troupe of dapper monkeys dressed in top hats and polka dots. If you look closely at their shoulders and arms, you'll spot little metal rivets—this isn't just a drawing, it's a page from one of his famous movable books where pulling tabs would make the monkeys raise their glasses or clatter their plates! Meggendorfer was the absolute king of mechanical illustrations in the late 19th century, turning static pages into playful, moving theatre long before modern pop-up books existed.