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Pop-Up. &. Movable. Books. Challenging a book’s boundaries. Books are by design two-dimensional. 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
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Pop-Up & Movable Books
Challenging a book’s boundaries • Books are by design two-dimensional. • 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. The multi-piece volvelle, attached at the center with a plain piece of string, could be used to calculate the movements of the cosmos. Petrus Apianus, Circa 1533
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 Throughout the centuries volvelles have been used for such diverse purposes as teaching anatomy, making astronomical predictions, creating secret codes, and telling fortunes. Petrus, circa 1540
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 three-dimensional 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. 'Moureninska Pohadka' (a child's guide to the monuments of Prague) published by Orbis, Czechoslovakia, 1973.
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. The History of Little Fanny: Exemplified in a Series of Figures. London: Printed for S. and J. Fuller, 1811. Click on doll and scroll down on linked page to see the many outfits Fanny has.
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 three-dimensional 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 Wehr's illustrations were printed on lightweight paper and had tab-operated mechanicals. By moving the tab, which extended through the side or lower edge of the illustrated page, the various parts of the animation were put in motion. The action was transmitted to as many as five different parts of the picture.
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. Kubašta] - 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 pop-up 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 Pop-Ups," 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. Noodles: an enriched pop-up product: Sarah Weeks, David A. Carter. - [New York, NY]: 1996. White Heat, Ltd. The birthday cake: a lift-the-flap pop-up book / Ron van der Meer. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, 1998.
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.