All of these rather unusual window displays feature models made by a traditional toy maker inspired by Balzac’s Comédie Humaine.
This work is not one single novel, but a collection of almost 100 interlinked novels and stories (plus another 40 or so unfinished works) depicting French society and, as Balzac described it in his 1842 introduction to the work, “the interrelations of men, women and things”. Although largely based during the early nineteenth century, there are some stories set in the French Revolution, Middle Ages and Renaissance.
All of these models were part of the Curious festival in Margate in 2013, and were produced by Turner Handel Traditional Toys of Margate.
Linked to Lingering Look at Windows.
Travel with Intent 
These look like they may be fro children but the stories are for adults, right?
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Yes, adult books. I guess the toys are more collector pieces than real toys
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Very curious! Clearly a Balzac aficionado. It looks as if these articulated models are meant to move.
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