Movable Books

The on-line exhibitions on pop-up and movable books at the University of North Texas’ library have been there for years, but are new to me.

The exhibition’s introduction traces the history of movable books back as far as the 13th Century, when mystic and philosopher Ramón Llull used volvelles or revolving discs, to illustrate his combinatorial concepts. We learn also that Andreas Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome, printed in Basel in 1543, ‘features a movable illustration in which the human anatomy is shown in seven detailed superimposed layers.’

The exhibition’s main focus, however, is on movable and pop-up books created for children from the mid-nineteenth century until the present day.

For more pop-up book fun, see also Nick Bantock’s site, and Jan Pienkowski’s, and Robert Sabuda’s.

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Posted by misteraitch at July 25, 2003 09:42 AM | TrackBack