Pop-up book
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A pop-up book is any book with
three-dimensional In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...
pages, often with elements that ''pop up'' as a page is turned. The terminology serves as an
umbrella term Hypernymy and hyponymy are the wikt:Wiktionary:Semantic relations, semantic relations between a generic term (''hypernym'') and a more specific term (''hyponym''). The hypernym is also called a ''supertype'', ''umbrella term'', or ''blanket term ...
for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and other features each performing in a different manner. Three-dimensional
greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...
s use the same principles. Design and creation of such books in arts is sometimes called "paper engineering". This usage should not be confused with traditional paper engineering, the engineering of systems to mass-produce paper products.


Animated books

Animated books combine three elements: story, colored illustrations which include text, and "two or more animated illustrations with their movement mechanisms working between a doubled page". In 1938, Julian Wehr's animations for children's books were patented as "moving illustrations" that move the picture up and down and horizontally at the same time with a single movement.


Transformations

Transformations show a scene made up of vertical slats. When a reader pulls a tab on the side, the slats slide under and over one another to "transform" into a totally different scene. Ernest Nister, one of the early English children's book authors, often produced books solely of transformations. Many of these have been reproduced by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
.


Tunnel books

Tunnel books (also called peepshow books) consist of a set of pages bound with two folded concertina strips on each side and viewed through a hole in the cover. Openings in each page allow the viewer to see through the entire book to the back, and images on each page work together to create a dimensional scene inside. This type of book dates from the mid-18th century and was inspired by theatrical stage sets. Traditionally, these books were often created to commemorate special events or sold as souvenirs of tourist attractions. The term "tunnel book" derives from the fact that many of these books were made to commemorate the building of the tunnel under the
Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...
in London in the mid-19th century. In the United States, tunnel books were made for such attractions as
World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...
s and the
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. Recently the tunnel book format has been resurrected by book artist Carol Barton and others as a sculptural book form. Artists are interested not only in the book's interior views, but also in treating the side accordions and covers as informational and visual surfaces. A selection of tunnel books by Carol Barton is archived in the special collections of
Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...
's James Branch Cabell Library.


Volvelles

Volvelles are paper constructions with rotating parts. An early example is the ''
Astronomicum Caesareum ''Astronomicum Caesareum'' (''Astronomy of the Caesars''; also translated as ''The Emperor's Astronomy'') is a book by Petrus Apianus first published in 1540. ''Astronomicum'' was initially published in 1540. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and ...
'', by
Petrus Apianus Petrus Apianus (April 16, 1495 – April 21, 1552), also known as Peter Apian, Peter Bennewitz, and Peter Bienewitz, was a German humanist, known for his works in mathematics, astronomy and cartography. His work on " cosmography", the field that d ...
, which was made for the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
in 1540. The book is full of nested circular pieces revolving on grommets.


Harlequinades and turn-up books

About 1765, English printer Robert Sayer began experimenting with a novelty format for the juvenile book market, an early forerunner to interactive movable books, according to book historian Peter Haining. The outcome was the creation of the "metamorphoses" format, "a thin book of four sections each with two flaps which folded over, and on each section an interchangeable picture. Beneath those pictures appeared some descriptive lines of verse, and as the reader turned up the flaps in the correct order in the text difference scenes were revealed". Sayer created books featuring the "
Harlequin Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan ...
s" from popular theater pantomimes. The black and white publications, which were also called Harlequinades or turn-up books, sold for sixpence and the hand-colored ones for one shilling. By late 1770, Sayer had published four turn-up or metamorphosis books, which became a "craze with children". Rival booksellers, such as Thomas Hughes and George Martin soon copied the "turn-up" format. In the United States, Joseph Rakestraw published "Metamorphosis; or, a Transformation of Pictures, with Poetical Explanations, for the Amusement of Young Persons", by Benjamin Sands.


History

The audience for early movable books were adults, not children. The first known movable in a book was created by Benedictine monk
Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris (;  1200 – 1259), was an English people, English Benedictine monk, English historians in the Middle Ages, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts, and cartographer who was based at St A ...
in his ''
Chronica Majora The ''Chronica Majora'' is the seminal work of Matthew Paris, a member of the English Benedictine community of St Albans and long-celebrated historian. The work begins with Creation and contains annals down to the year of Paris' death of 1259. ...
'', which covers a period beginning in 1240. Paris attached volvelles onto some of the pages which were used by the monks to help calculate holy days. It is speculated that the Catalan mystic and poet
Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; ; – 1316), sometimes anglicized as ''Raymond Lully'', was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, Christian apologist and former knight from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art ...
, of Majorca, also used volvelles to illustrate his theories in the early 14th century,Allie Townsend
Pop-Up Book
in "All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys", ''Time'', February 16, 2011.
but no physical example of a paper volvelle created by him has ever been documented. Throughout the centuries volvelles have been used for such diverse purposes as teaching
anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...
, making
astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...
predictions, creating secret code, and telling fortunes. By 1564 another movable
astrological Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celesti ...
book titled ''Cosmographia Petri Apiani'' had been published. In the following years, the medical profession made use of this format, illustrating anatomical books with layers and flaps showing the human body. The English landscape designer
Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...
made use of flaps to illustrate "before and after" views of his designs. While it can be documented that books with movable parts had been used for centuries, they were almost always used in scholarly works. In 1775 Thomas Malton, the elder published ''A Compleat Treatise on Perspective in Theory and Practice, on the Principles of Dr. Brook Taylor''. ''A Compleat Treatise on Perspective'' is the earliest known commercially produced pop-up book since it contains three-dimensional paper mechanisms. The pop-ups are activated by pulling string and form geometric shapes used to aid the reader in understanding the concept of perspective. It was not until the very late 18th century that these techniques were applied to books designed for entertainment, particularly for children. Some of the first three-dimensional and tab activated books were produced by Ernest Nister and Lothar Meggendorfer. These books were popular in Germany and Britain during the 19th century. A significant development in the field of pop-up books came in 1929 with the publication of the ''Daily Express Children's Annual'' Number 1, "with pictures that spring up in model form". This was produced by Louis Giraud and Theodore Brown. Four more ''Daily Express Annuals'' followed, and Giraud set up his own publishing house, Strand Publications, which produced the groundbreaking series of Bookano books. The Bookano books are considered the first, true pop-up books for children because the pop-ups can be viewed from a full 360 degrees, not just the front side facing the viewer. There were seventeen Bookanos before the series came to an end with the death of Giraud in 1949. One of the notable early examples of movable books in the United States is The Moving Picture Books, published in the early 20th century. These books featured mechanical illustrations that could move or change scenes with the pull of a tab. Initially published by Sully and Kleinteich, and later by The New York Book Company and the Pictorial Color Book Company, they became popular for their interactive storytelling and vibrant illustrations. Another unusual type of pop-up during this time was the tissue paper honeycomb style introduced by United States publisher Bernard Wilmsen, often known by the publishing name B. Wilmsen, in his Tunnel Books. In the United States, in the 1930s, Harold Lentz followed Giraud's lead with the production of the Blue Ribbon books in New York. Steven Miller
Waldo Hunt, 1920-2009; The 'King of the Pop-Ups' Made Books Spring to Life
''The Wall Street Journal'', November 24, 2009.
Ann Montanaro

''The Pop-up World of Ann Montanaro'' (exhibition), Rutgers University Libraries.
In the United States, in the 1930s, Blue Ribbon Books in New York was the first publisher to use the term ''pop-up'' to describe their movable illustrations, and they became well known for their collaboration with
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
, producing popular pop-up editions such as ''The "Pop-Up" Mickey Mouse'' and ''The "Pop-Up" Donald Duck''. The next advance in the field was made by
Vojtěch Kubašta Vojtěch Kubašta (1914, in Vienna – 1992) was a Czech architect and artist. He created pop-up books. Vojtěch Robert Vladimír Kubašta was born in Vienna. His family moved to Prague when he was four years old and he lived there his entire li ...
working in Prague in the 1960s. His lead was followed by Waldo Hunt in the US with his founding of Graphics International. He and two companies he established, Graphics International and Intervisual Communications (which also produced pop-up advertisements), produced hundreds of pop-up books for children between the 1960s and 1990s. Although intended for US audiences, these books were assembled in areas with lower labor costs, initially Japan and later Singapore and Latin American countries such as Colombia and Mexico. Hunt's first pop-up book was ''Bennett Cerf's Pop-Up Riddle Book'', published by
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
as a promotion for Maxwell House Coffee and showcasing the work of humorist
Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
, who was then president of Random House. The team of Waldo Hunt and Christopher Cerf created a total of 30 more children's pop-up books for publication by Random House, including books that featured ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'' characters. According to Bennett Cerf (in his book ''At Random''), pop-up books were profitable for Random House. In addition to his collaborations with Christopher Cerf at Random House, Hunt produced pop-up books for
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
, a series of pop-up books based on
Babar Babar (), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ''babr'' (Persian ...
, and titles such as ''Haunted House'' by Jan Pienkowski and ''The Human Body'' by David Pelham.Valerie J. Nelson
"Waldo Hunt dies at 88; entrepreneur revived the pop-up book as art form"
''Los Angeles Times'', November 22, 2009.


Notable works

Some pop-up books receive attention as literary works for the degree of artistry or sophistication which they entail. The 1967 Random House publication ''Andy Warhol's Index'', was produced by
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
, Chris Cerf and Alan Rinzler, and included photos of celebrities together with pop-up versions of Warholesque images such as a cardboard can of
tomato paste Tomato paste is a thick paste made from tomatoes, which are cooked for several hours to reduce water content, straining out seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. It is used to impart an i ...
, as well as a plastic tear-out recording, an inflatable silver balloon, and other novelties. Pop-up book artist Colette Fu designed China's largest pop-up book. In 2008, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to create pop-up books of the 25 ethnic minorities residing in Yunnan Province, China. Her work can be found in the
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,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
and
National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...
. David A. Carter, who created many bug themed pop-ups, and Robert Sabuda are other prominent pop-up book authors. ''Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy'', by Matthew Reinhart. This book received literary attention for its elaborate pop-ups, and the skill of its imagery, with ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' saying that "calling this sophisticated piece of engineering a 'pop-up book' is like calling the Great Wall of China a partition".


Collections


Library collections

*
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library () is the rare book library and literary archive of the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts and ...
at Yale University. *
Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...
, the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives in Brunswick, Maine holds the Harold M. Goralnick Pop-up Book Collection, which contains 1,900 volumes. * The
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...
Libraries Research and Study Collection of Pop-Up Books 1960–2009 contains 7.5 linear feet of pop-up books, catalogs, newspaper clippings and other related ephemera pop-up book materials, many donated by Sara Frooman. * The
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
Special Collections Library in Iowa City includes the Matthew Reinhart Pop-up Book Collection and the Emily Martin Collection, two noted paper engineers. * The
University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...
Dimond Library in Durham, New Hampshire holds the Carel Chapman Movable Book Collection, which contains over 1,800 pop-up and movable books. * Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries Special Collections and Archives holds th
Betty Tisinger Collection
and many other examples of pop-up and movable books.


Museum collections

* Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has over 1,700 titles in its Pop-Up Book Collection. * Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania includes 643 books from illustrator Maurice Sendak's bequeath of his Lothar Meggendorfer collection of movable books.


Associations

Since 1993, the Movable Book Society has provided a forum for artists, book sellers, book producers, collectors, curators, and others to share enthusiasm and exchange information about pop-up and movable books. The organization also awards industry prizes for best paper engineer (trade and artists’ book) and excellence in paper engineering by an undergraduate or graduate student.


In popular culture

* The central plot of the film '' Paddington 2'' (2017) revolves around trying to retrieve 'Mrs. Kozlovas Pop-Up Book', a pop-up book containing clues that lead to a treasure. * The children's animated television series '' Zack and Quack'' takes place in a world on the pages of a pop-up book. The nine-year-old boy Zack and his duck friend Quack go on adventures involving paper and pulling tabs to transform scenes.


See also

* Alphabet book * Altered book * Art diary *
Artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind o ...
*
Bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...
*
Chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...
* Concealing objects in a book * Copybook *
Doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created b ...
*
Ezine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the computer ...
* Fine press * Interactive children's book * Miniature book *
Minicomic A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105& ...
*
Origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...
*
Pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...
* Paper craft * Paper fortune teller * Paper plane * Toy book *
Visual poetry Visual poetry is a style of poetry that incorporates graphic and visual design elements to convey its meaning. This style combines visual art and written expression to create new ways of presenting and interpreting poetry. Visual poetry focuses on ...
* Volvelle *
Zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...


References


Further reading

* ''Pop-Up! A Manual of Paper Mechanisms'' by Duncan Birmingham, 1997. * ''The Elements of Pop Ups'' by James Diaz and David A. Carter, 1999. * * ''The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 1, Basic Forms'' by Carol Barton, 2005. * ''The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 2, Platforms and Props'' by Carol Barton, 2008. * ''The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 3, V-Folds'' by Carol Barton, 2012. *


External links


Pop-Up and Movable Books, A Tour through Their History
An online exhibit by
University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...
Libraries :From the nineteenth century to the present, featuring examples from the Weaver collection
Pop Goes the Page: Movable and Mechanical Books from the Brenda Forman Collection (2000)
An exhibit from
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
Library
The Movable Book Society


— Instruction on use of this
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for current acquisitions
Movable Book History
– VintagePopUpBooks.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pop-Up Book Paper art Books by type Children's books Book arts