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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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toy theatre
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(also known as juvenile drama) Nursery entertainment popular in Britain for a few decades from about 1810. The characters from plays on the adult stage were depicted in small etchings – usually six or eight to each sheet, sold for a penny plain or twopence hand-coloured. Also available was an abbreviated script of the play, together with scenery and a miniature theatre. The children cut out the characters, mounted each on the end of a rod and manipulated them on the stage while declaiming the text. The craze declined after about 1850, but reproductions of the old sheets are still published. Pollock's Toy Museum (London W1) is based on the stock in trade of Benjamin Pollock (1876–1937), whose predecessors in his business reach back to the early 19C and the beginning of juvenile drama.
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