Álbum Zoológico — collectible postalita album (Ediciones Mariví)

Publication

-

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

"Álbum Zoológico" — collectible postalita album (Ediciones Mariví)

Entry/Object ID

2025.17.1

Description

Landscape-format saddle-stitched paper album for Cuban postalitas (collectible trading cards), into which a numbered series of animal cards was pasted on interior text pages. Front cover bears a color-illustrated zoo scene — antlered and leaping deer/antelope on a rocky outcrop above a zoo path with strolling visitors and a background tower — beneath the display title. Back cover carries a marine illustration (large shark, free diver with speared fish, reef fish, octopus, coral) representing the album's aquarium section. The published series comprised 192 numbered cards spanning mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and birds drawn from Havana's zoo and aquarium (per cataloged series description).

Acquisition

Accession

2025.17

Source or Donor

José Bedia

Acquisition Method

Gift

Publication Details

Publication Type

Book

Illustrator

Salvador Albacete

Place Published

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Date Published

circa 1959

Publication Language

Spanish

Publication Subjects

Zoo animals

Notes

Date: Circa late 1950s–early 1960s. Production year not printed on the object; tentative and straddling the 1959 boundary (see flag). Definitively not later than 1962. Place of Origin: Cuba (Havana inferred for Ediciones Mariví; not stated on the cover) — tentative.

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Notes

Front cover display title: "Álbum ZOOLÓGICO" Artist credit in a starburst cartouche: "DIBUJOS S. ALBACETE" Price: "15¢" (15 centavos)

Condition

Overall Condition

Fair

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

José Bedia

Notes

owner

Related Places

Place

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Notes

use

Research Notes

Notes

Postalitas were a central form of mid-20th-century Cuban youth material culture, sold in installments and pasted into themed albums; the commercial trade tapered off in the early 1960s. For the collection's revolutionary-era frame, this item sits at or just before the 1959 threshold and is best treated as a boundary/transitional object pending a firmer date. Maker and artist verified; a precise imprint year, printer, and place would resolve the date question if an interior colophon survives.

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

May 14, 2025

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

June 18, 2026