Le Lorgnon d’Asmodée (Asmodeus’ Viewer)

Le Lorgnon d'Asmodée (Asmodeus' Viewer), France, Circa 1830. Exceptional optical toy in lithographed paper and card. Eight scenes are shown around the rotating card disc: "An intrepid hunter", "a good household", "A poor beggar", "A lot of luck", "A recluse's meal", "An elegant woman", "An excellent horseman", "An honest businessman". When you rotate the disc so that one of these images appears to be under the lens, you look through the lens and a small mirror at 45 ° reflects a different image - same title but given a satirical twist. This extremely rare toy was certainly inspired by the famous novel by Alain-René Lesage (French Authour, 1668 -1747) "le Diable boîteux" (the limping devil) which was a grand success in XVIIIth Century bookshops. see : http://www.exclassics.com/devil/devil.pdf