This article was first published in the "Beijing News Children's Book". Beijing News Children's Books (xjbkids) is the children's book rudder of Book Review Weekly, which has joined forces with many publishing brands to select children's books for readers and answer educational puzzles.
Pop-ups are generally regarded as children's toy books, written by the American Harold M. Thompson. Proposed by Harold Lentz in 1932. In the domestic children's book market, compared with the rich variety of picture books and children's popular science books, pop-up books as a form of books do not seem to have a strong sense of existence, but small videos shared and produced by pop-up books on social media are widely popular. Many enthusiastic and curious adults are also full of interest in pop-up books.
In fact, pop-up books and traditional books appeared almost the same time, very long, but it was not until the 19th century that its main readership changed to children. In 1929, Théodore Brown was invited by the British publisher Louis Giraud to create the first batch of auto-pop books (as soon as the book was opened, the pictures would automatically stand up), and in the mid-1930s, a number of high-quality pop-up books emerged on the market, and the word "pop-up" was widely spread.
2006, Matthew Reinhardt and Maurice Sandak, "Is It Mommy?" 》。
The writer we know, Maurice Sandak, has also been involved in the creation of pop-up books, and the Adventures of Tintin and Baba the Elephant have been called pop-up picture books. The following is authorized by the publishing house and excerpted from the Art of Pop-up Books. The author Jean-Charles Treby has collected many classic pop-up books, allowing us to see the whimsy behind the production of pop-up books.
Many of the paper carving artists in the book said that their love for pop-up books was related to the fact that their parents took them to make origami and read related books since they were young. I hope that our children's book market will see more types of pop-up books in the future.
The Art of Pop-up Books, by Jean-Charles Treby, translated by Pan Xinxin, houlang | Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, October 2021 edition.
Original author | Jean-Charles Treby
Excerpts | Wang Yi
Pop-up books are first characterized by reader engagement: when the reader opens the book, the animation effect begins with the movement of the pages; all the three-dimensional design emphasizes the transformation of the content in the book, creating unexpected effects that surprise the reader. A good pop-up book is like a Christmas gift, which can attract countless surprises from people.
Pop-up books and traditional books appeared almost the same time, the history is very long, initially academic, didactic reading. The first pop-up books for teenagers and children came out at the same time in the early 19th century. In 1820, a number of educational books were born, and people called these books "toilet books".
There are small drawings in this type of book, and when these pictures are uncovered, there is another new picture, and some pictures even contain allegories. Underneath the jewelry box, for example, hides a game about the theme of "humility." Since then, the number of pop-up books has begun to increase, and the works are full of creativity. Combined with the principle of lens diagram, the principle of optical illusion, etc., many wonderful works have been born.
2011, Jean-Hughes Marino and Jean-Charles Rousseau, All Dogs, Alban Michel Children's Publishing House.
The following is a pop-up book created by Lothar Meghandorff, the father of pop-up books, and introduces 8 forms of pop-up books suitable for children.
01
Lever pop-up book
Lothar M. Megendorff (1847-1925) was a talented German illustrator who had been working on pop-up books since the late 1880s. His first work was created for his son. Subsequently, he began to work with Esther Bell Press. In his work, he is demanding, closely following every link of production, and people can often see that the production drawings have his handwritten installation instructions.
Compared to other creators of his generation, Lothar Meghandorff showed his astonishing creativity, and he was not satisfied with a single way of making. His works often design five to seven fulcrums, made of small rivets, copper wires and rings, allowing different parts to run at the same time. Readers can control the movement of multiple parts in different directions with a single lever, and this ingenious design is still used today.
Always Happy! A Moving Toy Book", Lothar Meghandorff, London, 1891, The Trick Collection.
Tribute to pop-up books, Pop-up Book Society, 2004. The picture shows a photocopy of the original page, showing the position of the rivets from the back, and a handwritten note from Meggendorf when he created it, which helps the reader explore the inner mechanism of the pop-up book. Collection of the Georges Pompidou Library.
02
Stereoscopic comic book
In 1933, the First Three-Dimensional Comic Book was published in the United States, and walt Disney's Mickey Series's "Confused Symphony" was one of them, and the cover title was specially marked with the words "There are three-dimensional pictures in the book". Subsequently, in 1935, the famous adventure story of Buck Rogers, "The Adventure of the Spider Ship", was published. Then, a large number of Disney pop-up books came out, such as "Popeye" and "Tarzan", as well as "X-Men", "Hulk", "Spider-Man" and other works. These books were little known in Europe at the time.
The Ashter Press published Mickey's There in 1934 and Baba the Elephant and Ziggy and Serra from 1949 to 1953. In the comic book index, these books are classified as "three-dimensional picture books". 1968's Astairix the Gallic Hero and 1973's Lucky Luke also fall into this category.
The most famous pop-up comic book is, of course, The Adventures of Tintin, published jointly by Herman Publishing Company and Castelman Publishing House between 1969 and 1971. In 1993, Hema Publishing published three works on the theme of the Smurfs; in 2006, Frémione Press took us into the three-dimensional world of Cold Current; in 2007, Incredible Spider-Man was published in Panama. However, the real ingenuity of the pop-up comic book is Sam Ita's three works, namely "Moby Dick" in 2007, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" in 2008, and "Frankenstein" in 2010, all of which are distributed by Stirling Press in the United States. Later, the first two were translated into French and published jointly by the Japanese Manga Publishing House and the Fleurux Publishing House. However, these pop-up books lack innovation in the eyes of today's comic book artists.
Counting Desserts, Robert Sabuda, Simon Jr., 1997, Patrick Rock Collection.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Sam Ita, 2008
03
Mash up books
The designer cuts the book horizontally, generally into three parts, each of which can be freely combined with other parts of the front and back pages and randomly matched. This kind of pop-up book is called "mix and match" in English – "mix and match books". From Lothar Megendorff's Uncle to Raimon Göhnau's One Million Billion Poems, published in 1961, this form of pop-up book has always been popular in the market.
A 16-page book is cut horizontally into three parts to get 1536 different combinations of drawings. The design was originally designed to make people laugh, but as they explored this combination of forms, artists discovered the charm of the book—it could compose a lot of surrealist images.
The mashup has a long history, dating back to at least the 17th century, and the Cut Confessions are generally considered to be one of the earliest samples. Many 19th-century designers used this form, such as Lothar Meghandorff's 1898 Facebook book 1536 Grimaces, as well as several excellent lever picture books.
Ridiculous Disguises, 1994, Danny Trick Collection.
04
Carousel Book
This is a miniature stereoscopic theater book, also known as the "Star Book" or "Carousel Book". Unlike the tunnel book that unfolds in the same direction, the carousel book can be opened 360 degrees, surrounded by a circle, and people can turn the book to see different scenes.
When the carousel book is fully unfolded, the first and last pages are connected back-to-back, and the straps on the pages can be used to secure the structure. The book consists of paper cuts, three-dimensional drawings, and cardboard, folded in a similar way to an accordion book, but ends up being pasted into a four-, five-, or six-sided star.
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Drawing by Raimundo Senturian, published by SAGDOS Image Studios in Milan, Milan, 1940, Peter Furlong Tibetan. The dimensions are 26 cm × 23 cm, and the diameter of the book opening is about 50 cm. It is a panoramic pop-up book that uses dramatic effects to present a legendary story. When the front and back covers are connected to each other, the book is fully opened and secured by a thin rope. When viewed, the work consists of six triangles, each showing six different scenes, each consisting of four parts, and each book is accompanied by a booklet introducing the storyline.
05
Animated literacy reader
Literacy is intended for teaching, and it has long been a favorite object of youth publishing houses. Some artists have had many discussions around literacy books and made inspiring suggestions.
Sometimes, even if the paper and print quality are not superior, it does not prevent some unknown editors from designing excellent works. Literacy books reflect the state of the publishing industry as a whole, like alibaba's huge magic cave... Is there a literacy book on the subject of Alibaba... Of course!
ABC, Joe Zagula, Lycos Press, 1950. Jacques Des said the book was one of the finest albums published by Lycos, the Bernard Facas Collection.
The Most Amazing Hide-and-Seek Alphabet Book, Robert Clauser, Viking Press, New York, 1977, Bernard Fakas Collection.
06
Flip through the books by hand
Hand-turned books are somewhere between books and movies, creating illusions of pictorial movement in the process of turning pages with the index finger and thumb. Originating in the United States, it heralded the emergence of the seventh art, cinema, which combined books, animation, and photography. Such books were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are still popular today.
Since 1868, when British printer John Barnes applied for a patent for a hand-turned book under the name "kineograph", more and more people began to produce and produce hand-turned books. Some are used as toys and advertising prizes, and some are artist picture books.
Hand-flipped books are palm-sized, with a variety of styles and thicknesses. Some are bound books or paper cuts, and some are cardboard. Some of the books are hand-drawn, some are photographed in black and white or color, and the subjects cover a wide range of topics.
The Waterer, Benois Jacques, 2001, Collection of the Margaret Duras Audiovisual Information Centre, Paris.
07
Flag book
It was first created in the 1970s by the American Philly artist Heidi Kyle. The flag book is a variant of the accordion book: the cutting lines are drawn on the paper, then the lines are cut with a knife, then folded, and several small rectangular pieces of paper in the horizontal direction will be erected.
Artists have devised a variety of pattern arrangements to produce different visual effects, such as interlacing, stacking, etc. They also diverged into their imaginations, designing small rectangular pieces of paper in the shape of candles, cups, or hands... Readers can flip through page after page, or they can fully expand the book 360 degrees before reading it.
The Hour of The Sea and the Sky, Flag Book, Garel Perasau, Raphael Andrea Publishing House, 2008
08
Tunnel Book
The "Tunnel Book" is also known as "perspective painting", "picture box" and "diorama". Jacques Desse once said that the name "Tunnel Book" derives from an optical toy that became popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Tunnel Book is a series of hollowed-out carvings, and the reader will feel a strong depth effect when looking at these paintings through specific boxes.
Representative writers of this type of book are Martin Engelbrecht of Augsburg, Germany, who wrote 67 works between 1740 and 1770. The scenes in the book are connected by multiple layers of folded objects, which the reader can enjoy through the observation holes on one side.
In the 18th century, stage figure paintings began to be sold as toys to adults and children. The painter uses mixed flour and water, or fish glue, pastes the paintings on cardboard, and then places them in the set according to the principle of perspective, so that the paintings appear more three-dimensional.
Around 1820, the first paper toys were born in Britain, France and Germany. In addition to the text, these toys also have stage sets and character models. The character model is glued to the end of a small paper pole for the reader to place freely. As a result, people were able to recreate some popular plays with tunnel books at that time.
The tunnel book is similar to the "box play" and "perspective painting" of the 18th and 19th centuries, in that the paper figure models and landscape paintings are placed according to the principle of perspective, highlighting the three-dimensional effect. This design is getting closer and closer to the later three-dimensional model, and the hand-cut parts can be pasted and combined according to the instructions.
Rhine Valley, From Bingen to Lorelei, 1930, Collection of Kristen Suhl.
The Wall, by Marina Butchy, 2011.