HUMMEL CHILDREN IN 3-D

This book is a limited edition (less than 1000 copies were printed) by the late Dr. Dieter Lorenz tells the story of the tragically short life of Bavarian artist and Franciscan Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel. Based upon her world-famous illustrations of children, the W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik in Coburg, Bavaria created the first lifelike porcelain Hummel figurines in 1935. These charming little figurines are still in production today and are treasured by countless collectors all over the world.  We have been sold out of this book from 2005 until recently but came upon a few more copies after the  passing of Dr. Lorenz.   

Very few people know, though, that some of the Hummel figurines were once the "leading actors" in a long-forgotten 3-D film produced in the mid-1950s! Dr. Lorenz tells the fascinating history of the development of this film and the special cameras and techniques that had to be developed for its production. In his research for this work, he interviewed many of the principals involved in the creation and making of the film, including producer Dr. Willy Pfaff, puppeteer Albrecht Roser, and cameraman Heino König.

Sadly, this little film was unsuccessful. By the time it was released in the summer of 1954, the "3-D Boom" of the early 1950s was ending and practically all interest in 3-D had died out. The film continued to be shown in theaters in Germany as a 2-D "short" running with feature films, but even this came to an end by the late 1950s. There are now just a couple of copies of the 2-D version remaining in German film archives, but all copies of the 3-D version have disappeared and none is known to exist today.

This 72-page 8 x 8-in. hardbound book consists of two sections The first section of 48 pages contains the story of the film and its production, as well as 21 non-3-D black-and-white photos taken at the time of the production sets and the individuals involved in the film's creation. The second section contains practically no text and is printed in full color. There are over 40 full-color images in this section, of which 32 are side-by-side stereo images of the most beloved Hummel figurines, three scenes from the 3-D version, and several views of the production process of Hummel figurines today at the W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik. The remaining non-3-D color images show more scenes from the film. Dr. Lorenz's text has been translated into English, and the publisher has issued the book as a dual-language English and German work -- all text and picture captions appear in both languages. A prism-lens lorgnette is needed for viewing the stereo images. Please order the lorgnette shown below the book below if you do not already own one. 

This is the only printing of the book, and it has been published in an extremely limited quantity. It will indeed be an excellent and most desirable addition to both 3-D and Hummel figurine collections.