Thaumatrope
A card disc with a picture on each side that merge when spun – a bird ends up in its cage.
The thaumatrope was sold in London in 1825 and became a popular toy and scientific curiosity. It is an ancestor of film. Examples are in the Science Museum and the Cinémathèque française.
Materials: Card, print, strings
Manufacture: The pictures were printed and coloured on either side; strings tied at the edges to twirl the disc.
The two half-pictures – bird on one side, cage on the other.
How simply the toy shows the persistence of vision.