Challenging a book’s boundaries
• Books are by design twodimensional.
• And yet, for more than 700
years, artists,
philosophers, scientists,
and book designers have
tried to challenge the
book's boundaries.
• They have added flaps, revolving parts, and
other movable pieces to enhance the text
(Montanaro).
Where did it all begin?
A volvelle (French, meaning
to turn) is a paper disc in a
book that when rotated can
be used as a tool for
calculations or other less
scientific purposes, such as
fortune telling. It is
considered the first paper
movable to appear in a book.
Petrus Apianus, Circa 1533
The multi-piece volvelle,
attached at the center with a
plain piece of string, could
be used to calculate the
movements of the cosmos.
Where did it all begin?
The first known volvelle was
created by Benedictine monk
Matthew Paris in 1250.
The traditional circular charts
that appeared in the abbey's
books, used to determine
when to observe holidays,
were cumbersome since the
books were heavy and had to
be rotated on the monk's
laps.
Matthew decided it would be easy if the circular chart
spun around instead of the whole book and so the first
volvelle was born!
Volvelle
Petrus, circa 1540
Throughout the
centuries volvelles
have been used for
such diverse purposes
as teaching anatomy,
making astronomical
predictions, creating
secret codes, and
telling fortunes.
• While it can be documented that movable
parts had been used for centuries, they were
almost always used in scholarly works.
• Before 1770 there were virtually no books
produced to give children pleasure; most
were to teach them, to make them good, or to
keep them quiet (F.J. Harvey Darton).
Gutenberg's gift / Nancy
Willard; illustrated by Bryan
Leister. - 1st ed. - Baltimore,
MD: Wild Honey (1397?1468?)
Metamorphoses Books
• It was not until the 18th
century that these
techniques were applied
to books designed for
entertainment,
particularly for children.
• London book publisher
Robert Sayer changed
that with the production
of "metamorphoses"
books.
Pictures to Please You with verses by Clifton
Bingham and pen and ink sketches by A.G.
London: Ernest Nister; New York: E.P.
Dutton, [1890?].
Metamorphoses Books
• "Metamorphoses" books were
composed of single, printed
sheets folded perpendicularly
into four.
• Hinged at the top and bottom of
each fold, the picture was cut
through horizontally across the
center to make two flaps that
could be opened up or down.
Metamorphosis, or, A transformation of pictures, with poetical explanations, for the
amusement of young persons. Sold by Samuel Wood and Sons; Printed by J. Rakestraw,
Philadelphia, 1814.
Metamorphoses Books
When raised, the pages
disclosed another hidden
picture underneath, each
having a few lines of
verse.
This idea of Sayer is still
used today, not only in
children books but also in
advertisement.
These books were also
called "turn-up" books or
"Harlequinades.“
Dutch 1960's advertisement for
Nivea (a cosmetic brand)
Harlequinades
• The harlequin, known from
the pantomimes in the
theatres of that time, was
the star of adventures retold
in the first turn-up picture
books.
• Tuck & Sons produced
another series of movables,
each featuring overlays
designed to be raised out
from the pages, thereby
giving scenes a threedimensional effect.
Fun at the Circus. London: Raphael Tuck & sons, [1892?].
Tableaux or Scenic Layer Books
Evolving from novelty
cards, valentines, and
other nineteenth-century
paper art, tableaux
consist primarily of a
single scene. Unfolding
like small theater sets,
the flat sheets create a
three-dimensional world
layered like stage
scenery.
Tableaux or Scenic Layer Books
Days in catland with Louis Wain. - New York, NY: B. Shackman & Co., 1991. [12] p.: 14 col. cut-outs, col. ills.; 26 x 28.5 x 1 cm. - (Father Tuck's Panorama
[series])
Paper doll books
The London toy novelty
firm, S. & J. Fuller,
produced a series of
books between 1810 and
1816 that came with a
paper doll and various
outfits, hand-colored and
cut-out.
The most famous The
History of Little Fanny
was issued in 1810.
Paper doll books
• As an example, in Little
Fanny, Fanny is at first an
"idle" girl whose chief activity
is playing with her dolls.
• When her mother refuses to
accompany her to the park,
she escapes with her maid
and is soon robbed of her
clothes.
Click on doll and scroll down on linked page
to see the many outfits Fanny has.
The History of Little Fanny:
Exemplified in a Series of
Figures. London: Printed for
S. and J. Fuller, 1811.
Paper doll books
• She appears next as a
beggar girl and slowly
works her way out of
poverty and into different
outfits until she is able to
return to her mother.
• In the end, Fanny has
learned her lesson and
appears reading a book
instead of playing with a
doll.
Dean and Sons
• The first true movable books published in any
large quantity were those produced by Dean &
Son, a publishing firm founded in London
before 1800.
• The company claimed to be the originator of
children’s movable books.
Dean & Son's Moveable
Book of the Royal Punch &
Judy as Played before the
Queen at Windsor Castle &
the Crystal Palace. London:
Dean & Son, [ca. 1861].
Dean’s Movable Books
• Between the 1860s and 1900 Dean produced about
fifty titles.
• To construct movable books, Dean established a
special department of skilled craftsmen who
prepared the hand-made mechanicals.
Beauty and the Beast. Home Pantomime Toy Books. London: Dean & Son, [ca.1873].
Dean’s Movable Books
• The illustrations in these books had either a square or
an oblong picture divided into four or five equal
sections by corresponding horizontal or vertical slits.
• When a tab at the side or bottom of the illustration was
pulled, the picture "transformed" into another picture.
Fun at the Circus. London; Paris; New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, [ca. 1900]
Dean’s Movable Books
• Dean also introduced movable books
with transformational plates based
on the jalousie or Venetian blind
principle.
Raphael Tuck
• Raphael Tuck was the
first publisher to
seriously challenge
Dean & Son.
• In 1870 Tuck and his
sons founded a
publishing business in
London that produced
luxury paper items
including scrapbook
pictures, valentines,
puzzles, paper dolls, and
decorated papers.
Raphael Tuck
• In the genre of movable
books, Tuck published
"Father Tuck's 'Mechanical'
Series." The series included
stand-up items with threedimensional effects as well
as movable books.
Earnest Nister
• Another 19th century publisher who specialized
in movable books was Ernest Nister.
• Nister also produced movable books with
dissolving and revolving transformational slats.
Magic Windows: An Antique Revolving Picture Book. New York: Philomel Books,
1980. Originally published under the title In Wonderland, London: Nister, 1895.
Earnest Nister
• Nister's illustrations stood up automatically.
• The figures were connected by paper guides
so that as the pages were turned, the figures
lifted away from the page within the
perspective-like setting.
Fenn, George Manville. Wild
Animal Stories: A Panorama
Picture Book. London: E.
Nister; New York: Dutton,
[1897].
Earnest Nister
• Nister released these books as Panorama
Picture Books.
• Wild Animal Stories, shown here, is a popular
example of one of the panorama books that
was marketed in America.
Lothar Meggendorfer
• The most original
movable picture books
of the 19th century were
devised by Lothar
Meggendorfer.
• Meggendorfer was not
satisfied with only one
action on each page. He
often had five parts of
the illustration move
simultaneously and in
different directions.
Lothar Meggendorfer's International
circus: a reproduction of the antique
pop-up book / by Lothar Meggendorfer.
- New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 1979.
Lothar Meggendorfer
• Meggendorfer devised
intricate levers, hidden
between pages, that
gave his characters
enormous possibilities
for movement.
• He used tiny metal
rivets, actually tight
curls of thin copper
wire, to attach the
levers, so that a single
pull-tab could activate
all of them, often with
several delayed actions
as the tab was pulled
further out.
McLoughlin Brothers of New York
In the 1880s,
McLoughlin
Brothers became
the first large
producer of
movables in the
United States.
The company took
ideas from Dean; in
fact, McLoughlin
went so far as to
pirate Dean’s Home
Pantomime Books.
The Lions' Den. Little Showman's Series (1st
series). New York: McLoughlin Bros., [ca.
1880].
S. Louis Giraud
• Few movable books were
produced once the First World
War began.
• In 1929 a new series of
movable books was initiated.
• British book publisher, S.
Louis Giraud designed and
produced books with movable
illustrations.
Daily Express Children's Annual No. 2.
London: Lane, [1930?].
S. Louis Giraud
• His books were referred to
as "living models"
because each scene
unfolded in a double-page
spread, which was
designed to be viewed
from multiple angles.
• “Not only did the figures
stand up as the pages
were opened and closed,
the figures appeared to
continue their movements"
after the book was opened
(Hanning).
Bookano Stories No. 4. London: Strand, [c1937].
Blue Ribbon Publishing
• As the Depression
years deepened,
American book
publishers sought
ways to rekindle
book buying.
• In the 1930s, Blue
Ribbon Publishing of
New York hit upon a
combination that
proved successful.
Puss in Boots. Illustrated pop-up ed. New York:
Blue Ribbon Press, 1934. Illustrated by C. Carey
Cloud and Harold B. Lentz.
Blue Ribbon Publishing
• They animated Walt Disney characters and
traditional fairy tales with pop-ups.
• Blue Ribbon was the first publisher to use the
term "pop-up" to describe their movable
illustrations.
Blue Ribbon Publishing
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The New Adventures of Tarzan "Pop-up."
Illustrated pop-up ed. Chicago: Pleasure Books, 1935." A Blue Ribbon
Press book." Illustrated by Stephen Slesinger.
Julian Wehr
A new group of
artists and publishers
entered the movable
book market in the
1940s.
The exciting
adventures of Finnie
the fiddler was the
inaugural book of a
series of titles
featuring the
animation of Julian
Wehr.
Julian Wehr
Vojtech Kubašta
Beginning in the
late 1950s a series
of remarkable
innovative pop-up
books was
produced by Artia
in Prague,
Czechoslovakia, a
state-run import/
export agency.
Tip & Top & Tap and the dragons / [designed by V. Kubašt
- London, England: Bancroft & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1964
Vojtech Kubašta
Vojtech Kubašta
was their
preeminent artist
and creator of
dozens of pop-up
books.
Tip & Top go camping / [designed by V.
Kubašta] - London, England: Bancroft
& Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1962.
Waldo Hunt
In the mid-1960s
American Waldo Hunt,
President of Graphics
International, a Los
Angeles-based print
brokerage company, was
creating dimensional
pop-up magazine inserts
and premiums.
Waldo Hunt
• This led to the
renaissance of popup books as we now
know them.
• Graphics
International moved
to New York in 1964
and began producing
books for Random
House.
Waldo Hunt
Mr. Hunt and his
company was credited
with starting the second
"Golden Age of PopUps," and Mr. Hunt has
been described by the
Los Angeles Times as
"the world's greatest
living expert on pop-up
books."
Hallmark Cards
Hallmark Cards purchased Graphics International at
the end of the decade.
Kubla Khan: a pop-up version of Coleridge's classic / Nick Bantock; [written by Samuel
Taylor Coleridge; New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 1994
Intervisual Communications, Inc.
With more than
forty successful
titles produced for
Hallmark, Hunt
left in 1974 to
return to California
where he began a
book packaging
company,
Intervisual
Communications,
Inc.
Solomon Grundy: a pop-up rhyme / Retold and
illustrated by Nick Bantock; New York, NY: Viking
Penguin, 1992
Intervisual Books
By 1980, Intervisual
Books was creating
and manufacturing
pop-up books for 60
of the world's
leading publishers
of children's
books.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Delacorte Press, 1980.
Printed and bound in Colombia for Intervisual Communications, Inc.
Intervisual Books
Van der Meer, Ron. Monster Island. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston,
c1981.
Intervisual Books
Pienkowski, Jan. Robot. London: Heinemann, 1981.
Pop-ups Today
Today there are a number of packaging
companies such as Compass Productions
White Heat, Ltd., Van der Meer Paper Design,
Sadie Fields Productions, and Designimation
to name a few.
Imperial surprises: a pop-up book of Fabergé masterpieces / [Text by Margaret Kelly;
concept by Mary Ann Allin, Fabergé Arts Foundation; New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams,
1994.
Pop-ups Today
There are between 200 and 300 new pop-up books
produced in English each year.
The birthday cake: a lift-the-flap pop-up
book / Ron van der Meer. Cologne,
Germany: Könemann, 1998.
Noodles: an enriched pop-up product:
Sarah Weeks, David A. Carter. - [New
York, NY]: 1996. White Heat, Ltd.
Pop-ups Today
Santa's workshop: a magical three-dimensional tour / Paul Strickland. [1st ed.] - New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books, a division of Penguin
Books, 1995.
Pop-ups Today
Inside the personal computer:
an illustrated introduction in 3
dimensions: a pop-up guide /
Written and conceived by
Sharon Gallagher; paper
engineering and design by Van
der Meer Paper Design; 1st ed. New York, NY: Abbeville Press,
1984.
Publication of Pop-ups
• The publication
of pop-up books
is a production
process that
involves the
skills of a
number of
individuals.
• The creation of
the book begins
with a concept,
story line and
situation.
When the wild pirates go sailing: a pop-up
adventure book / by Kees Moerbeek and
Carla Dijs. - [1st ed.] - Los Angeles, CA:
Price Stern Sloan, 1990.
Publication of Pop-ups
Once the basics are
worked out, the
project goes to the
"paper engineer"
who takes the ideas
of the author and
the illustrator and
puts motion into the
characters and
action into the
scenes.
Six brave explorers: a pop-up book / by Kees Moerbeek and Carla Dijs. - [2nd ed., miniature]
- Los Angeles, CA: Price Stern Sloan, c1988, 1992.
Publication of Pop-ups
They may even add
sound, for example,
as in a book where
the opening and
closing of the pages
causes the teeth of
a saw to run across
a log.
The mighty giants / written by Stewart Cowley and illustrated by Mike Peterkin;
paper engineering by Paul Wilgress. - [Warner Juvenile Books ed.] - New York,
NY: Warner Books, 1988.
Publication of Pop-ups
The designer must
determine
• how movable pieces
attach to the page so
they won't break,
• which points need
glue and how much,
• the length of the pull
tabs, and
• how high a piece can
pop up.
Botticelli's bed & breakfast / Jan Pienkowski; paper engineering: New York, NY:
Simon & Schuster Editions, 1996.
Publication of Pop-ups
• Most contemporary pop-up books are assembled by
hand in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, or Singapore.
• Production lines are set up, with as many as 60
people involved in the handwork needed to complete
one book.
Sabuda, Robert . The Twelve Days of Christmas. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Publication of Pop-ups
• These people fold,
insert paper tabs into
slits, connect paper
pivots, glue and tape.
• Alignment of tip-on
pieces with the printed
page must be exact
and angles must be
precise.
• The most complex
books can require over
100 individual
handwork procedures.
A three-dimensional Victorian doll house /
[Designed by Willabel L. Tong] Richmond
Hill, Ont., Canada: 1998.
Publication of Pop-ups
• The movable books
of the last two
decades have
become increasingly
complex.
• The addition of
lights and music in
some titles has
contributed to the
surprise of the
mechanical
illustrations.
Star Wars: Jabba's palace pop-up book / by Kevin J.
Anderson and Rebecca Moesta; New York, NY: Little
Brown, 1996.
Publication of Pop-ups
For more than 100 years pop-up and mechanical
books’ mechanical devices have surprised and
entertained readers of all ages.
Anything cuddly will do! by Mick Inkpen Equador: Intervisual Books, Inc., 1993]
A Variety of Books
That Come to Life
Various names used for pop-up and movable books
include:
• Mechanical
• Altered
• Movable
• Pop Up
• Flap
•Turn up/lift the flap
• Harlequinades
• Pantomimes
• Animated
•Tableau Formats
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The "toilet book“
Peep shows
Toy Books
Panorama
Pull tab
Transformation
Split Pages
3-D Ephemera
Chronogram Cards
A Book with Many Names
TABLEAUX
SPLIT PAGES
FLICK BOOKS
PEEPSHOWS
Click on picture to find out more.
3D EPHEMERA
FOLD-OUTS
A Book with Many Names
POP-UPS
PULL-TABS
DISSOLVES
OPTICALS
CAROUSELS
HOUSE BOOKS
Click on picture to find out more.
Pop-up and Movable Books
INTERVIEW WITH POP-UP BOOK MAKER
ROBERT SABUDA: THE MOVEABLE BOOK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-c6dJKRIPg
Resources
Montanaro, Ann. A Concise History of Pop-up and Movable
Books. http://www.broward.org/library/bienes/lii13903.htm
Ampersand Books. http://www.ampersandbooks.co.uk/
The Great Menagerie. University of North Texas.
http://www.library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/popup/main.htm
Pop-up and Movable Books. University of North Texas.
http://www.library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/popup2/default.htm
World of the Child: Pop-up and Movable Books. University of Delaware
Library. http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/child/popup.htm