~Kyle

I have been working my way through a translation of Arabian Nights; getting lost in the tangle of ancient stories woven over a thousand and one nights.  As a Western reader, I have found it difficult to appreciate this revered collection and its unfamiliar patterns of storytelling.  I think that is why I have a certain love for this featured pop-up book, which singles out one of the more beloved stories from the intertwining tales.

In the early 1960’s, the British publishers Bancroft and Co. teamed up with the massive state-owned publishing house Artia, based out of Prague to create a series of colorful pop-up books based on the Arabian Nights.  Two illustrators, Frantisek Sklar and Jaroslav Beza came together to create vibrant renditions of these classic tales, but little is known about the collaboration or these artists.

Today, we are looking at The Fisherman and the Demon printed in Czechoslovakia in 1960.  This hardcover landscape format book has two large pop-ups with simple pull tabs that serve as the front and rear endpapers with a six page color booklet bound inside.  The paper engineering is very simple box layers with expressive artwork in line with Kubasta, who was creating books with Artia at the time.  There is no record of who did the pop-up design for this series, so we must assume that there was someone creating it in-house for Artia.  I won’t go into much detail about the storyline, but I feel that buoyed by the wonderful art, this story stands up on its own.  Now I have to keep my eye out for Sinbad, Aladdin and Ali Baba to complete my collection.

~Kyle

Tomorrow is a big day here at the studio.  Matthew Reinhart’s newest pop-up books will be released to bookstores across the world!

Puppies, Kittens and Other Pop-up Pets pairs fun rhymes with big bold pop-ups and pull tabs.  Young readers will get to learn about six different pets that you would find at home.

Rescue: Pop-up Emergency Vehicles shows you five different rescue vehicles and the heroes that operate them to help save the day.

This new pop-up series features Reinhart’s colorful cut-paper collage across five spreads.  The 8-inch square softcover books are made from thicker glossy paper and were designed specifically for curious little hands.  For many years, we have wanted to create simpler books for a younger reader and we are excited that the day has finally come when we can offer that you for under $7.  So get to your favorite booksellers to order your copies today!

~Kyle

Love is in the air around the studio so I thought I would feature another antique valentine.  Like most mass-market valentine cards, this little guy speaks for itself.  Which is a good thing, since I have no information on this piece.  Measuring 3” wide by 5” tall this Valentine is a typical of the cards constructed in the early 1900’s.  It is diecut out of one piece of stiff card and appears to be chromolithography.  The mechanic is the standard single box layer, in this case of a creepy kid with a flower wreath bearing the label “Love’s Joy”. The child with the pageboy haircut and piercing eyes is kneeling before the viewer in front of what appears to be an arch or upside down horseshoe of hearts.  Below the text reads, “There’s no escape my Valentine.  I have your Heart and you have mine.”

A little spooky right?  On the reverse we find that the pop-up has been patched but can still read the inscription: “To Margaret Munden. From Pearl Ganes.”  Looks like Pearl practiced in pencil before moving to the blue fountain pen.  I was excited to receive this card, but I always wondered how Margaret felt about the sentiment in this love token

~Kyle

I recently learned about the fanciful artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and his various creations like the Green Citadel.  I also learned that he took part in Luna Luna Park in Hamburg, Germany back in 1986.  Luna Luna was the brainchild of the equally interesting Andre Heller and was a traveling combination of a contemporary art park and a “child’s dream” of an amusement park. Heller invited famous artists of different generations to participate. Salvador Dali, Jean Tinguely, Jim Whiting and Roy Lichtenstein created special installations. Younger Americans Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf, along with several German neo-expressionist painters decorated children’s rides.  Seeing Haring listed here reminded me of a special pop-up.

Of interest to us today is the pop-up folio that celebrates the colorful carousel created by Keith Haring for Luna Luna.  This 12” x 12” single spread pop-up was paper engineered by Ron van der Meer and produced in 1986 by Carvajal in Columbia.  The edition is rumored to be around 2000 so this pop-up is a rare breed to come across.  Equally scare is information on Luna Luna Park and it’s success.  Nonetheless, I would have loved to visit this avant-garde carnival and hope that one day I can at the very least own a pop-up artifact from this bizarre wonderland.

~Kyle

The Wizards of Pop Exhibition has made it to Houston, Texas and this weekend starts off a series of fun activities celebrating the show.  Stop by the Children’s Museum of Houston to see 80 images from 16 books created by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.  Then stick around to make your own pop-up cards or pop your own bubbles in activity centers.

The Wizards of Pop exhibit premiered at the NCCIL in May 2009.  It recently made a stop at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and will be off to the Noel Art Museum in September.  And if your in the Houston area you have until August 28^th to take the kids down for some fun.

~Kyle

Last weekend Harry Potter began dominating the movie theaters and it was all that folks talked about at work.  Now San Diego Comic Con is starting up this weekend and the office is getting excited to take part.  So it only seemed fitting that I pick to showcase the talents of Brittney Lee.

This California based paper cutter came to my attention via the great blog, Dude Craft.  Her recent tributes to Harry Potter are excellent and the more I viewed her past projects I more impressed I was with her skills.  She will be at the comic convention this weekend sharing her new book of work so if you like what you see stop by and say hi.

~Kyle

This weekend we got to see Japan’s overtime win in the finals of the Women’s World Cup.  I do not confess to be much of a soccer fan, but even I eagerly watched the penalty kicks as an underdog Japanese team bested the U.S. squad.  Let face it, Japan needed a win after the horrible trifecta of earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

So today, we are taking a closer look at Japanese pop-up books.  Long coveted with high price tags, I can only drool over photos and Ebay listings.  Today I found a link to A Japanese Book, a small online bookseller based in, you guessed it, Japan.  The owner has created a webpage that showcases 60 years of Japanese edition movable books, which you can find here.

He prefaced the list with these words: “Modern Japanese pop-up and movable books (tobidasu ehon) are still at their beginning. Japan counts numerous fine illustrators and writers, and has a very active book industry — the only thing left is for paper engineers and publishers to give one another the means to realize their desires and meet our expectations! Greatly looking forward to it.”

I too am looking forward to the creative collaborations that continue to come out of this tiny island nation.  Some of these pop-up books are simple adaptations of popular cartoon enterprises but as you scroll down to more recent titles you will see there are many winners; just like Coach Sasaki and his team of champions.

~Kyle

One of my favorite pop-up books is also one the most mysterious.  This German edition is titled “Bajazzo, Die Freude Heiner Leute”.  My German is very sparse but one translation I found read as: Pagliacci the happy Heiner people.  This leads us to the Italian opera Pagliacci that premiered in Milan in 1892.  Based on the paper and the coiled wire rivets I would place the book’s creation around that time period.  The book contains seven lithograph color plates with multiple movable parts activated by a pull tab.  The mechanisms are simpler than Meggendorfer and more in line with movable books from Capendu in France.  Alas, while the actions are interesting and bizarre they do not match up with the plot of the opera.  One can surmise that the movable book is less an adaptation but an original narrative starring this Italian clown.  The 25 page accompanying text suggests that the author was a Georg Tllers and the publisher may be Burgftadt or from the Burgstadt region in Germany.

While I do enjoy the book as well as a good mystery, if any reader has more insight or information on this title, please feel free to comment below.

~Kyle

Somewhere in between the S&L bank crisis in the 1980’s and the more recent Subprime mortgage crisis the Pennsylvania State Bank decided to send a “thank you” to their loyal customers and offer to refinance with a home equity loan.  Now, I know U.S. banking history is not too interesting, but their promotional material is of interest to me.  When you open the tri-folded business letter a woman’s hand offers a handful of small bills.  This is the first time that I have seen a small pop-up inserted into a business letter.  After all these years, it’s exciting to see something new.  I could not learn too much about this pop-up advertisement, but my guess is the letter was produced around 1993 based on the documentation.  It seems Pennsylvania State Bank has come and gone and now PNC is at that address.  Maybe too many of their loyal customers took them up on the home refinancing offer.

~Kyle