Movable Stationery, Vol 31, Number 2, June 2023

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 2

In this issue:

David A. Carter's Blossom Books

Newberry Exhibition

MBS Conference

Speakers

Creators of the MBS Pop-Up Cards

IN THIS ISSUE

The 2023 conference co-chairs— Isabel Uria and Larry Rakow have organized an outstanding event for September. We will all benefit from the fresh eyes and voices that comes with new perspectives. I invite you to peruse our speakers' tantalizing presentation descriptions and allow yourself to be tempted to join us either in person or virtually. You have to be there in person, though, to fully enjoy the jewels of the Cleveland area that we will visit: American Greetings, The Mazza Museum and The Morgan Conservatory. I, personally, can't wait. I hope to see you in Cleveland!

Shawn Sheehy, Director, MBS

With the 2023 hybrid conference in Cleveland quickly approaching, (September 28-October 1) we thought it might be terrific if we built a little advance excitement by introducing our speakers and providing an advance sneak peek at the delicious topics they will be presenting.

Some of you may remember that at the 2018 conference in Kansas City, David A. Carter announced that he had formed his own publishing venture, Blossom Books. He is now ready to let us peer under the hood to see how things have been going. Or should I say, GROWING?

Another important and exciting movable book exhibition has opened with Suzanne Karr-Schmidt's historic survey of movable books from the Newberry's vast

collection. It will be up until July 15, so you still have time to visit in person! Highly recommended.

Earlier this year MBS presented its first trio of collectible pop-up cards by some exciting new talent. Let's meet these up-and-coming paper engineers: Star Shen, PaperPaul, and Keerthana Ramesh. BONUS! For a limited time, these cards are on sale for 20% off! Begin adding works by these future p.e. masters to your collections now!

Ellen G.K. Rubin once again delivers timely connections to news and events in the movable book world with her Poppits.

Finally, we share our list of Recently Released Pop-Up Books, but starting with this issue we no longer only look backward, but now forward. We will begin pivoting to UPCOMING releases so that you can be sure you are among the first to acquire these beautiful books as they become available.

Bruce Foster, Editor-in-Chief, MS

All rights reserved. No content from this publication may be reproduced or shared without the expressly written permission of the editor or the board of The Movable Book Society.

Art Direction and Design by Bruce Foster.

Copyediting this issue by Beth Anna Stockdell Send

POPPITS BY ELLEN G. K. RUBIN

This page: The Bologna Book Fair booth of Blossom Books with Carter's partner, Angela Jacobs, hard at work getting these books into bookstores around the world.

Cover: A selection of books created by Blossom Books.

Things are Coming Up Slowly but Surely,

is a rare and wonderful thing today: a small, independent publisher that specializes in and cherishes the movable book above all else. Of course, that should be no surprise at all when one realizes that it was formed by one of the most prolific and celebrated paper engineers of the last 50 years: David A. Carter.

David, along with Angela Jacob, founded Blossom Books in 2018. They met at White Heat, where David was being published following his years at Intervisual Books. White Heat was founded and managed by Jim Diaz, a legendary paper engineer in his own right. Angela: "My love for the children’s book business developed when I was fortunate enough to land a job as a rights manager with a world-renowned book packager (Diaz). It was my first full time job returning to the workforce after staying home to raise my three sons. [Also] it was close to my home and involved international travel…I hit the jackpot! Feeling incredibly lucky to be able to be a part of this world I was amazed to see the creative process and evolution of a pop-up book from a hand drawn sketch to an amazing pop-up book".

When White Heat closed in 2008, Angela formed JNJ Agency It started out as a foreign agent selling mostly rights only with multiple clients including David, and Piggy Toes

Press, which is owned by Bendon Publishing. She still handles some of those clients at JNJ Agency, but they are not part of Blossom Books. Because Blossom Books is an LLC, it gives protection to the company when taking on the responsibility of printing and shipping. However, she has moved

David A. Carter with Irene Greco, a bookseller actively promoting books in Italy on her blog and on social media.

Roses for Blossom Books

By Bruce Foster, Editor

MS: In your books with solid color, do you ever use paper that is already colored? We imagine that would be useful when making dummies but couldn’t see how that would be efficient for mass production. And yet, the color is so smooth and flawless. Good, rich coverage everywhere.

Carter: That style evolved when inspired by a Calder retrospective, I started using colored paper (Astrobrights) instead of white paper to experiment with. Using colored paper (solid core) for production was my plan when I started the One Red Dot series. The limited edition of One Red Dot does use the solid core papers. Of the 26 alphabetized copies I have, less than half work perfectly because the paper does not hold up, it's soft and not very rigid. It turns out that a good quality solid core paper was not available in Southeast Asia so no, the main run books are all printed with continuous tone pms special colors on coated stock with a matte varnish in an attempt to match the colored paper. For the most recent books like Imaginons and MOVE!, the books are printed with the traditional 4c because we are now using only uncoated FSC* paper (per publisher request) and the pms special inks lose their strength on the uncoated paper so the extra cost is not worth it.

"Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.”

― Matshona Dhliwayo

*The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC), is a nonprofit organization specializing in setting standards for responsibly sourcing the timber used in many industries. Over the past 30 years, the FSC, along with other nonprofit agencies have been ensuring the health and sustainability of forests around the world by establishing best practices standards.

some of her clients to Blossom Books, including David Pelham and Chuck Murphy's estate so that it can print their books for the publishers.

In the five years since, we here in the U.S. have surprisingly seen relatively little of what Blossom Books has accomplished... aside from the release of The Complexities of Pop-Up. U.S. publishers' appetite for pop-up books has waned in the last decade. Formerly leaders in pop-up book representation, publishers Simon & Schuster, Random House, Scholastic, and others have come to feel that these hand-work-intensive books are too expensive to produce, along with diminishing profit percentages. Additionally, they don't see a market currently for original concept pop-up books. Luckily, Rosston Meyer's Poposition Press has had success filling that niche. For more elaborate works, Insight Editions focuses overwhelmingly on recognizable licensed works like Star Wars, Transformers, Harry Potter, and other movie or entertainment products.

David has hopes that those publishers will see this success and decide it's time to resume their support. In the meantime, Simon & Schuster still keeps David's books on backlist, so he does enjoy continuing sales from those past works.

So, what HAS Blossom Books been up to? International. As reported in MS last year, interest and sales of popup books is strong in France and other countries like England, Italy, Germany, Japan, and China. Says David, "We are working with two international publishers who distribute in the U.S. market, so you might see our work in the US in the near future. That's how we get the books out... by doing co-editions with our foreign publishers. Funny, but that is exactly the model that Wally Hunt used to start the pop-up business in the late 70's. Very few pop-ups were published in the U.S. at that time, mostly in Europe and Japan. Full circle?"

As Blossom evolves, their business model is tweaked in search of one that works best for them. With

The Complexities of Pop-Up

Merry Christmas Tree: An Ode to the Christmas Tree,

Angela's expertise selling into the foreign market and with David's mastery in creating the books, they focus on The Bologna Children's Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair. In a way, it has become a spiritual descendent of White Heat, functioning primarily as a book packager. They create the book from concept through art, engineering, and text. The books are then pitched to publishers, mostly in the international market. Sometimes they sell rights to their books to partners in China who then produce their own editions. The idea is to keep as many of their books in print for as long as possible, wherever possible. New and interesting titles join the roster as often as they can and often Blossom works with other artists as well like David Pelham, James Diaz, Maike Beiderstadt, Ian Smyth, and Elsa Mroziewicz. Poposition Press was a partner in producing The Complexities of Pop-Up. Blossom is gently adding new artists to its roster. Speaking of Complexities, co-publisher Meyer (Poposition Press) funded the book through Kickstarter, which was a blessing because the book needed a much larger budget than anticipated. Poposition Press sells their allotment online, while Blossom Books distributes wholesale into bookstores. But there are head winds. Thinking independent bookstores would be a natural kindred spirit, Blossom has found that it is more complicated than that. The book stores prefer a simpler approach of buying their books from a distributor since there are so many small publishers and self-published authors to manage. But Blossom can't afford to work with distributors as they take a huge percentage.

In the meantime, Blossom Books has found a home overseas (David's works primarily) by Gallimard Jeunesse in France. But that may soon change as there are several titles previously published overseas that are being prepped or are in discussion for publication in the states in the near future. See the sidebar.

"In retrospect you will see that everything is unfolding perfectly."

― Shakti Gawain

Blossom Books' current 2023 books in print list:

David A. Carter - ACTION! France (Gallimard, Thames & Hudson, Gallucci) 978-2-07-517241-7 26,5 Euro Merry Christmas Tree (Gallimard, Gallucci).

David Pelham - Look Who Ate Your Book – China, 123 Tiger Mouse Bee - China

Applebee Cat Series four titles - China, Japan

Backlist of books in print (reprints):

Carter - The Red Dot Series, (Gallimard, Dainippon Kaiga, Simon & Schuster), Five Cars Stuck - China

Bugs Series, 12 titles – China

If You’re Happy and You Know It (Dainippon Kaiga)

Merry Christmas (Dianippon Kaiga, Combel) Imaginons (Gallimard).

Pelham - Here Comes Santa (Dainippon Kaiga) Applebee Cat, 4 titles, 123 Tiger Mouse Bee (with Sophie Pelham)

Maike BiederstadtThe Weather Book, Portugal, Korea, Germany, UK, US (Prestel) What’s in the Egg – Germany, UK, US (Prestel)

Chuck Murphy – Animal Babies A to Z Color Surprises and One to Ten

Titles that Blossom Books created and delivered since 2018:

David A. Carter - The Seasons series

Imaginons (Gallimard) 978-2-07-514579-4 26,5 Euro

Left, Right (Gallimard)

The Complexities of Pop-Up (Poposition Press)

Blossom BooksOne Thousand and One Handbags, (Poposition Press)

Munari's Traveling Sculptures, (Edizione Corraini)

X-Ray Dinosaurs, China (English language) Italian

In development or discussion:

Disappearing Animals, Ian Smyth. This book is currently being considered by multiple publishers.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, Ian Smyth. Interest is building. Vaginas and Periods 101, PaperSmyth. These books (also by Ian) are being considered by multiple publishers, awaiting final sales.

On The Move with Applebee Cat, David Pelham. There are four active Applebee titles in total.

Move! David A. Carter. 978-0-500-65342-5 The French published this book as ACTION! in 2023 and it is currently being printed in English for Thames & Hudson and in Italian for Gallucci.

Merry Christmas Tree: An Ode to the Christmas Tree, David A. Carter. This book is being assembled as we speak for Gallimard Jeunesse. 978-2-07-519008-4 (24,9 Euro) and Gallucci for fall 2023.

Color – A Pop-Up Book Celebrating the Many Shades of Color. This book is still on David's drawing table and scheduled to be ready for the printer at the end of the summer. There is solid interest from Gallimard and good interest from others, hoping to have finalized sales on this at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It should go to print sometime this fall.

Color: A Pop-Up Book Celebrating the Many Shades of Color

Imaginons.

An Amazing Exhibit

By Ellen G. K. Rubin

Excitement had been building for a quite a while after learning about the proposed Newberry Library exhibit, Pop-up Books Through the Ages, to be curated by the movable book scholar, Suzanne KarrSchmidt. Several of the MBS board members agreed to be there, adding to the anticipation. There would be a reunion, not experienced since the Denver conference, of Larry Seidman, Larry Rakow, Shawn Sheehy, Emily Martin, yours truly, The Popuplady, and our founder, Ann Montanaro Staples. Ann had jumped at the chance to see the exhibit and get together with like-minded friends. Unseasonably good March weather in Chicago enabled a perfect stay.

The Romanesque/Renaissancestyle building occupies an entire block opposite a large park. The arches and colonnettes cloak the building in grandeur. I walked in with Ann, made a sharp left, and gasped. Unbidden to my lips came Wordsworth’s words, “My heart leaps up when I behold.…” for me, not a rainbow, but the Astronomicum Caesareum’s1 dragon volvelle. It almost completely covered the glass 2-door entry to the exhibition with the exhibit title emblazoned above. Each return to the entry during my stay elicited the same reaction.

If you have followed The Popuplady’s predilections, you will have heard me urge you to see the 1540 book—

declared the most beautiful movable book ever printed — anytime it is displayed or, better even yet, shown for sale. Having the bookseller turn the folio pages covered with densely hand colored volvelles, took my breath away. The stage was set for a thrilling experience.

We assembled in front of the entry doors and waited for our docent, Suzanne, the curator herself. Once inside, we were greeted by the Astronomicum Caesareum opened to the pages with a volvelle on the verso and recto. There was a single pearl on the string, a rarity by itself. The book is on permanent loan to the Newberry.

Not to be outdone and to give a shift in centuries, extended in a case was Buffalo Bill’s Wilder Westen, produced much like Meggendorfer’s Circus with individual fold-down pop-ups. Unsigned by Meggendorfer, one can only surmise that he was the paper engineer.2

We were surrounded by walls papered with bold re-creations of historic movable books like the 1121 encyclopedia, Liber Floridus,

Suzanne Karr-Schmidt, curator, reads a statement during the opening of the exhibition.

MBS members, Larry Rakow, Emily Martin, Ann Montanaro Staples, Ellen G. K. Rubin, and Larry Seidman.

believed to have the first movable, a gatefold. Robert Sabuda’s recreation of Matthew Paris’ volvelle which he produced for the Movable Book Society’s 10th anniversary pop-up book, Celebrat10n, was presented along with an image of the actual mid-13th century volvelle from Paris’ Chronica Majora 3

Also on the wall were images of Apianus’ Cosmographia from 1574 and one of the set of pop-ups produced for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Introductory informative text was interspersed both in English and Spanish. Hanging from the ceiling was an enormous paper globe, a facsimile made from the earliest surviving paper globe of the earth from 1492, printed in Nuremberg, Germany. The gores themselves were mounted in the last room of the exhibit. Humphry Repton’s landscape flap book demonstrated the ‘before and after’ use of flaps.4 To make the exhibit truly interactive and more informative were facsimiles of movable books for visitors to manipulate, such as Meggendorfer’s Die Frau, Bas!5 Turn the various sliced pages and change the faces.

Now to enter the main gallery. Along the interior entry wall were several editions of Apianus’ Cosmographia, from 1524 to 1585. On display were several volvelles that Apianus

created for calculation and how printer’s waste reinforced the movable paper. Covering the use of anatomical flaps was a vitrine with Witkowski’s pop-up eye6 dramatically staring at the viewer with flaps raised to demonstrate the inner workings. There is a cornucopia of books, peepshows, and carousels, all with movables. The side walls had the gores from different sized globes and, most astounding to me, were the maps with flaps. If you think The Popuplady has seen it all; she hasn’t!7 One map depicts troop movement at Bunker Hill during America’s Revolutionary War. The flap uncovers where the troops should be. A facsimile was needfully provided. Another never seen item was the hanging volvelle bookmark reminding the reader where they left off by turning the wheels. Precious!8

Suzanne also did not shy away from adult material. Lift the floral flap and be surprised with a nude woman.9

Mispaginated books or ones with unsuspected additions, called Bloopers, were also included. It was fun to see several hand-colored turn-up or Harlequinade books, manuscripts, and lottery and fortune telling examples.

At the back was a video, with Spanish subtitles, showing an interview with Shawn

Sheehy and Hannah Batsel.10 They had put their talents together to create a pop-up souvenir of the exhibition. A volvelle opens to an accurate depiction of the Newberry building. Turn the wheel and peek inside the windows and floors to see holdings of the library. Attendees of the opening received the cards fully assembled and signed. Five thousand copies were printed unassembled and given free to visitors.

The exhibit gave a great deal to take in and I went back as often as I could. But our visit was not over. The next day, Suzanne treated us to a behind-the-scenes tour at the Newberry and a hand-picked selection of movable books for us to pour over. Beginning in a private room, Emily Martin demonstrated one of her artist books with multiple angular pop-ups. We saw a very early Shawn Sheehy, Counting on the Marsh: A Nighttime Book of Numbers, from 1997 in an edition of ten. Among the older books was a manuscript kabbalah with 2 movables and a lottery/fortune telling book. All these samples were not for us to hold.

But we continued to another room where movables were laid out ready for us to inspect. The one that got the most oohs and aahs was an artist book, Arachnophobia to Archanophilia: Entanglement: Spider Web/Oracle

by Tomás

Saraceno, 2022. It was published for the Library Council of the Museum of Modern Art and 125 copies of the 165 printed were reserved for Council members. One finely cut web dangles from the book while others popup, many with strings.

Also, at the other end of the time spectrum were two small, framed cards with movable eyes and jaws with tabs outside the frames. There were Harlequinades and taufbriefe (or taufpatenbriefe)11 folded handcolored printed sheets giving blessings and religious instruction to newborns by their godparents. A Dutch metamorphic from 1787 was accordion folded to reveal the transformation when stretched.

Needless to say, this was a dream visit for movable paper collectors. We learned so much from our brilliant and generous host, Suzanne Karr-Schmidt. The exhibit, Pop-up Books Through the Ages, is worth a special trip to Chicago. The exhibit closes on July 15. Get there!

The flattened gores of a facsimile made from the earliest surviving paper globe of the earth from 1492, printed in Nuremberg, Germany.

1. Peter Apian (1495–1552) Astronomicum Caesareum (Imperial astronomy) Ingolstadt, Germany: Peter Apian, May 1540.

2. After Lothar Meggendorfer (1847–1925), designer Buffalo Bill’s Wilder Westen: ein Bilderbuch zum Aufstellen für Kinder (Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Esslingen: J. F. Schreiber, 1891.

3. Robert Sabuda (b. 1965); after Matthew Paris (ca. 1250) Chronica Majora (Major Chronicle), in Celebrat10n of Pop-Up and Movable Books New Brunswick, NJ: Movable Book Society, 2004.

4. Humphry Repton (1752–1818)

Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening London: W. Bulmer, 1794.

5. Lothar Meggendorfer (1847–1925)

Die Frau, Bas!: humoristisches Album mit über 4000 verwandlungen (Mrs. Bas!: humorous album with over 4000 transformations) Esslingen, Germany: J. F. Schreiber, 1899.

6. G. J. Witkowski (1844–1923)

Anatomie Iconoclastique: Oeil (Iconoclastic anatomy: eye) Paris: H. Lauwereyns, 1876.

7. Sir Thomas Hyde Page (1746–1821)

A Plan of the Action at Bunkers Hill on the 17th of June 1775 London: publisher unknown, after 1775.

8. https://twitter.com/newberrylibrary/ status/1222157049368367104

Orationarium in vita domini nostri Jhesu Christi, ca. 1400.

9. Guillaume de Lorris (active thirteenth century), author; Octave Delpierre (1802–1879), compiler

Cy est le Rommant de la Rose, ou Tout l’Art d’Amour est Enclose (Here is the “Roman de la Rose,” in which all the art of love is enclosed) London, 1848.

10. Making the Newberry Pop-up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6TN8_recZk

11. https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2017/02/02/ taufenpatenbrief-or-godparents-letter-1781/

Harlequinades

and taufbriefe (or taufpatenbriefe) folded hand-colored printed sheets giving blessings and religious instruction to newborns by their godparents.

Shawn Sheehy, Counting on the Marsh: A Nighttime Book of Numbers. 1997

Arachnophobia to Archanophilia: Entanglement: Spider Web/Oracle by Tomás Saraceno, 2022.

Seen here, the souvenir pop-up of the Newberry building by Shawn Sheehy and Hannah Batsel.

Meet the PaPer engineers behind the Mbs's First trio oF collectible PoP-uP cards.

Last year the Movable Book Society commissioned three original pop-up cards. When Rosston Meyer joined the board, he had a suggestion that the MBS could have a larger physical presence in print. He spearheaded this project, choosing talented, but unpublished paper engineers. The fact that they all created their lovely cards in tones of blue was a complete coincidence! The cards were laser cut instead of steel die cut, especially useful since Keerthana's dielines were so intricate.

Each of these artists have bright futures, so be sure to add these cards to your collection so you can say you were among the first to collect their work! And they are now 20% off!

My name is Xingtong Shen, a freelance illustrator and paper engineer. People usually call me Star because that's what my name means. I specialise in visual design and paper engineering for pop-up books, greeting cards, and editorials. I was born on a tropical island in the southern most part of China. I found joy in designing clothes for my dolls. Encouraged by my family's belief in my potential, I made the decision to pursue studies in fashion technology during my university years, embarking on a journey of artistic design.

However, life has a way of surprising us and taking us down unexpected paths. It was in 2019, I received a precious gift from a friend on my birthday—a pop-up book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Robert Sabuda. As I opened the pages of that book, I was transported to a magical world, filled with wonder and awe. In that continued page 21)

Pictured here with Star at her booth at an art fair in NYC, is Shuning Wang, also an aspiring paper engineer and new member of the MBS.

20% oFF

PaperPaul: I am a socalled paper engineer but that’s just a fancy way to say that I like to play with paper and create popups. I credit my work as "PaperPaul" but my real name is Jean-Paul and I'm from the Netherlands. In 2014 my girlfriend Denice and I started a platform about pop-up books named BestPopUpBooks. And after a couple of years, I started making pop-ups (continued page 21)

Keerthana Ramesh is a paper and pop-up artist based in Chennai, India. She makes delicate hand-cut pieces of art using nothing more than a craft knife and hours of patience. In 2021, she worked on a daily challenge, making one pop-up every day, featuring a different endangered species each day. At the end of thirty days, all the pop-ups were compiled into the My Friends are Missing pop-Up book. Her turtle pop-up card with the Movable Book Society was one of the original designs from the My Friends are Missing.

At the height of the pandemic in India, we got phone calls nearly daily or twice a day about a family friend passing away. Everything was tough and I was feeling very down, and I just needed something to help to keep me sane. So, I thought, this is the perfect time for me to learn how to make pop-ups; which is something I had been wanting to learn for nearly ten years. And, to keep myself motivated, I decided to take on a thirtyday challenge, making one pop-up a day, and posting it on Instagram.

Because I knew that if I didn't turn learning a skill into a project, I would never actually learn it.

My Friends are Missing is a handmade personal project. It was (continued page 21)

Keerthana Ramesh

PaperPaul (Jean-Paul Leconte) with Denice

For a limited time get these collectible cards for Click here!

Star Shen continued: moment, a spark ignited within me, fueling a deep fascination for the art of paper engineering. I began collecting various pop-up books and immersing myself in the world of creating my own. To my astonishment, my very first book, The City of Mountains, gained recognition online, capturing the attention of creative companies who approached me for collaborations and requested my designs for greeting cards.

Seeking to expand my knowledge and refine my craft, I made my way to the United States to pursue a master's degree in illustration at the esteemed Maryland Institute College of Art. I enjoy interdisciplinary exploration, connecting the different fields of knowledge I have been exposed to at various stages of my life. My graduate book Everything You Need to Know about Mars is based on the research I accumulated during my previous studies in fashion technology.

My journey of learning paper engineering has been an ongoing process. I devoted myself to studying existing popup books in the market. Watching online video tutorials, particularly those by Duncan Birmingham, became my guiding light. In addition, I found immense value in The Complexities of Pop-Up by David A. Carter and James Diaz, a trusted resource that helped

breathe life into my ideas. It's fascinating to discover the parallels between designing clothes and creating books— the art of building something from scratch, starting with an idea and experimenting with various materials and techniques. Both require a keen eye for visual storytelling, extending beyond mere words. Upon entering the field, I discovered that full-time paper engineers are fewer in number than I initially imagined. Sometimes, it feels like a solitary profession. Thus, I'm truly grateful for The Movable Book Society. Through the society, I've had the opportunity to meet many talented members who share a passion for paper engineering. It's a wonderful platform for connecting with like-minded individuals, exchanging ideas, and fostering a sense of camaraderie.

Currently, I am fortunate to work as a freelance artist based in New York. This year has brought me incredible opportunities as I have a pop-up book and a children's picture book set to be published. In addition to taking commissions, I have also collaborated with friends to design greeting cards and art books, which we sell at art markets in New York.

Email: starshen1999@gmail.com Website: starshen.net @paperstarfish_/

Everything You Need to Know About Mars by Star Shen

PaperPaul continued: myself, just for fun. That was the start of a new hobby. Creating pop-ups is a sweet spot where crafting, illustrating, and engineering meet. I love both the creative and the technical aspects of making pop-ups. My daytime job is graphic and web design. This background also helped me to understand how to make templates and print files.

One of my favorite things to do is to make quick concepts and experiment with mechanisms. I enjoy the challenge to make something work or finding the best solution to make a pop-up work. I also love to work with curves because they add organic shapes to pop-ups that mostly use straight lines (folds) and symmetrical mechanisms.

About me (Publishers Bio)

PaperPaul is an illustrator, graphic designer, and paper engineer from the Netherlands. His passion for pop-up books and paper engineering ignited when he started collecting them with his wife. Inspired by fellow paper engineers, he began creating his own mesmerizing pop-up designs. Paul's special interests lie in crafting curves, complex mechanisms, incorporating memes, and experimenting with electronics. He happily resides in the charming Dutch town of Cuijk with his wife and two cat companions.

PaperPaul.com

BestPopUpBooks.com

Youtube.com/@PaperPaul

Keerthana continued: purely intended as a way to teaching myself the art of pop-up. I had previously known about a non-profit art project to raise awareness about endangered species called One Million One Month, which was to launch around the same time I was looking for a theme for my thirty-day challenge, and decided it was the perfect fit. I love animals, I love wildlife, I love spending time outdoors in nature, but because I couldn’t do that either, I thought this is the perfect project to learn how to make pop-ups, and this is the perfect challenge because it’s a subject matter I also care about.

The My Friends are Missing book, despite being a hand made personal project, drew considerable media attention — which pleasantly surprised me. And it got featured in newspapers and design magazines. It also led to the opportunity to design a greeting card for the Movable Book Society. This was my first experience in designing a pop-up for manufacturing and Rosston helped with the technical parts that were new to me.

I would love for the My Friends are Missing book to be published! Although that might be a faraway dream. I also love children's book illustration and would love to illustrate a few books with paper art and possibly pop-ups too. :)

keerthanaramesh.com

instagram.com/Keerthanalikestodraw

My Friends are Missing by Keerthana Ramesh

Dumpster Fire by PaperPaul

Cat Filing Nails by PaperPaul

Delicate cut paper art by Keerthana Ramesh

Introducing Our Speakers for the

Keynote speaker:

Peter Dahmen

In anticipation of our exciting upcoming conference in Cleveland, OH, Movable Stationery has asked each scheduled speaker to introduce themselves and provide a brief preview of their topics.

–Editor

Peter Dahmen, born 1967, studied communication design at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund, Germany, graduating in 1994. Since then, he has worked as a professional designer. Even from his student period, he has passionately created three-dimensional folding objects out of paper and cardboard. For a long time, only a few people had seen his work. That changed when he published a short film of his paper sculptures in the year 2010 on YouTube. The response was overwhelming. Peter became a social media celebrity with millions of viewers of his YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest pages. Since then, he has received commissions from companies worldwide.

Working as a freelancer, he has created amazing designs for major brand owners, including what is probably one of the largest pop-ups ever in the world, for the press launch of the new MINI car (BMW Mini Cooper) in 2011. It was 10.5 meters wide and more than 5 meters high. In addition to collaborating with card manufacturing companies, he has designed amazing pop-up sculptures for the American magician Marco Tempest. Some of his exclusive pop-up card designs became best sellers at the MoMA Store in New York. For Iggesund paperboard, he created a spectacular Christmas card, which is also a foldable decoration. It can be used to create thousands of different snowflake images.

Peter's artistic paper pop-up sculptures have been presented at various international exhibitions, including the international exhibition World Pop-Up Art in Seoul (2013) and Changwon (2014) in Korea and in the exhibition Origami Universe: Pop-up Wonders 20202021 at the Chimei Museum, Tainan City in Taiwan (R.O.C.)

In his presentation, he will talk about the creation of the elaborate pop-up fair, which he designed and built for the stop-motion animated film Wendell and Wild which consisted of more than 1370 individual parts. (See Movable Stationery, Volume 30, Number 4).

Peter’s keynote will give some entertaining behind-the-scenes stories of this Netflix adventure as well as present his original working model live at the conference.

2023 MBS Hybrid Conference

Cris Takacs

First Do No Harm.

The restoration treatment on A Movable Amusing Toy-Book by Lothar Meggendorfer.

The book was made over a hundred years ago. It has been pulled and played with by many hands and probably repaired more than once. The trick is to figure out how the mechanisms are supposed to work, why they aren’t working, and to get them working using sympathetic materials so that the eye isn’t distracted by the repairs.

Cris Takacs has been gathering tools, paste, and papers for many years. She has been taking things apart and putting them back together for even longer. In this presentation she will share some of the techniques and stories learned along the way. cctakacs@gmail.com

Jodie Coates

Hello! I’m Jodie Coates - a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, working within the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature. I have been a member of Christ’s College, and the Faculty of Education, since 2013, receiving a BA in Education with English and Drama and an MPhil in Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature from the university. In-between academic studies I have worked as a secondary school teacher on the Isle of Wight, Christmas Elf in Lapland, and bookseller ‘Bibliotherapist’ at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, in Bath.

My PhD thesis (working title: Oh What a Novelty!: The Hypermediated Pop-Up), explores the media legacy of movable books in the twenty-first century. Primarily, I investigate where the pop-up book surfaces across nonbook media – in dynamic animated sequences in children’s film, as delightful and frightful interactive environments in video games, and as playspaces in immersive museum exhibits and

theme parks. My wider research interests include puppetry, performance, and the posthuman. This year, at the 2023 MBS conference, I am incredibly excited to share some thoughts on the intersection between pop-ups, poetry, and pedagogy. I will demonstrate how a selection of movable books, reframed as educational props, could help students engage with the inherent multimodality of verse. In these texts, the synergy and discord between poetic text and paper devices amplify embodied aspects of poetry. From disruptive nursery rhymes, to thoughtful, cyclical poems, to dramatic spoken word; movable books might just be the key to unlocking the playful potential of poetry. jc833@cam.ac.uk

Liz Garcia

Liz Garcia. I was born and raised in Lymington, a village near the New Forest on the South coast of England and was interested in arty/crafty things from an early age.

Cris Takacs

Jodie Coates

Liz Garcia

After O-Levels, A-Levels and a foundation course in art I went to London to do my degree at Ravensbourne College of Art & Design and have been living in London ever since (around 30 years now) and enjoying all it has to offer.

I am currently a studio/print manager in a design company and also making pop-up cards and experimenting with letterpress as my side-hustle. Paper engineering has always been an interest as I just love the tactile 3D qualities it has to offer. I love a simple graphic style and especially text related ideas, as seen in the work of artists like Marion Bataille. This led to the degree show project that will form the main contents of my presentation - a pop-up alphabet. Get ready for your ABCs!

Keith Allen

Keith Allen is a professional designer, illustrator and paper engineer from Cleveland, Ohio with eighteen years professional experience in product design at the greeting card company, American Greetings. He currently works on the complex pop-up greeting card line, Magic Moments.

He ventured into self-publishing with the launch of a successful pop-up book that he created with two very talented family members titled A Day in Rehoboth Beach, A Pop-Up Book.

After great online support, Keith turned to crowdfunding to fund and self-publish his second title What a Mess! A Pop-Up Misadventure. Keith was inspired by his two children to write, Illustrate and paper-engineer What a Mess, a story about two kids who don't want to clean their room. Other movable books Keith has worked on are Wings Over Washington, a Pop-Up Adventure and My Adventure Nativity, a Press-Outand-Play Book.

Learn more about Keith Allen at MessyPopUp.com

PopUpTober:

PopUpTober is a yearly online artist challenge for both aspiring and experienced paper engineers. In early September, a list of word prompts will be posted for every day of October and artists are challenged to engineer paper pop-ups or create paper art with the daily word prompt in mind. Artists and engineers post their work with the hashtags #PopUpTober and #PopUpTober2023 on their multiple social media platforms. PopUpTober2023 will be the fifth year that I have hosted the challenge. Our number of participants grow every year, and we receive hundreds of posts. It's a tough challenge, but it's a great way to connect with engineers and popup enthusiasts all over the globe. I will be sharing some outstanding work created over the years as well as some of my own.

Simon Arizpe

Simon Arizpe was the recipient of the Meggendorfer Prize in 2018 for his Zahhak, The Legend of the Serpent King. Simon began his paper engineering career as an intern at the Sabuda/Reinhart Studio. (At the time of this publication, Simon was out of reach while he is at the Artels artist residency outside of Hämeenkyrö, Finland). He will be telling us all about the sequel to Zahhak, The Seven Trials of Rostam, Stranger Things Pop-Up, and his Sappi North America Pop-Up Book.

simonarizpe.com

Rianne van Duin

Rianne van Duin is a paper adventurer and professional tinkerer from the Netherlands. She invents and creates interactive 2D & 3D paper worlds for children and with children. Her work varies from illustrated pop-up books to life size foldable theatre sets, from children's newspapers to paper animations. Interaction is the main theme in Rianne's creations: they stimulate the imagination and invite you to play, manipulate and experience them.

Rianne built her own studio at the NDSM wharf in Amsterdam. From there she works on commission for publishers, theatre

Keith Allen

Simon Arizpe

Rianne van Duin

productions and festivals, independently or in collaboration with (the work of) illustrators or artists such as Fiep Westendorp and Leo Timmers. She also creates personal projects, like Your Adventure, her self-published interactive children's book without electronics. See RianneVanDuin.nl for more.

At the conference Rianne will present some of her – literally – bigger projects, that she did recently for theatre productions. For instance, a seven foot high pop-up book with five spreads/ scenes, and a foldable cardboard set that fits into a small car but folds out to a life size decor. She will share her challenges in designing and building big size installations based on paper structures, as well as her exploration to the possibilities of different building materials.

Marianne R. Petit

Marianne R. Petit is an artist and educator whose work explores fairy tales, the body, graphic and narrative medicine, as well as collective storytelling practices through mechanical books that combine animation and paper craft. Her interests are in combining technology, traditional book arts, and sequential storytelling. Petit’s artwork has appeared internationally in festivals and exhibitions. Her movable books can be found in museum, library,

and university collections including the Library of Congress, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the British Library, Children’s Literature library of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Boston Public Library, Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library Harvard Medical School Countway Library, Savannah College of Art & Design, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Scripps College, the Struwwelpeter Museum, Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Miami Special Collections, The Wellcome Collection, as well as many private collections. She is an Arts Professor at New York University’s Interactive Media Arts (IMA) and Interactive Telecommunications (ITP) programs located within the Tisch School of the Arts. More information at MarianneRPetit.com instagram.com/mariannerpetit/

WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT

Anatomical flap books and the intersection of graphic medicine with paper craft, including popups and paper cuts.

Sherry Muyuan He

Sherry Muyuan He is currently teaching digital design in Harlem, New York. She has taught paper engineering at the Center for Book Arts, as well as at the Invisible Dog Center

and ChaShaMa. Her dream is to build a life-size pop-up room for people to drink tea and make pop-up books.

Cook the Globe on Paper: A Pop-Up Book Workshop Featuring Multicultural Cuisine. We will take a tour from Miso soup and mapo tofu, to dumplings and sandwiches. sherry@sherrymuyuanhe.com

Ben Sapp

Benjamin E. Sapp, is Director of the Mazza Museum at The University of Findlay, where he’s also an Instructor of Education. The Mazza Museum is dedicated to international art from picture books. The Mazza Museum is the first and largest museum in the world specializing in the art from picture books. Ben earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from The University of Findlay, and has devoted his entire 29-year career to the Mazza Museum and teaching at The University of Findlay.

Ben’s presentation will be sharing some information about the Mazza Museum, it’s programming, and the Mazza Museum’s works of art from movable books.

Marianne R. Petit Ben Sapp

Sherry Muyuan He

THE LITTLE MERMAID POP-UP BOOK

PE: Matthew Reinhart

Reinhart Pop Up Studio

May 16, 2023

978-1647227593

$27.99

RECENTLY PUBLISHED POP-UP BOOKS

ACTION!

PE: David A Carter

Gallimard Jeunesse

October 2022

978-2075172417

26, 5 Euro French

MI ESCUELA: LIBRO CARRUSEL

PE: Anna Gkoutzouri

Editorial el Prata

May 17, 2023

978-8418664861

$24.95

Spanish

POP-UP

PEEKABOO FOREST

PE: Maike Biederstädt

DK Children

May 2, 2023

978-0744083019

$12.97

ANIMAL ATLAS

PE: Ingela P Arrhenius?

Candlewick

April 4, 2023

978-1536231236

$18.92

UPCOMING POP-UP BOOKS

POP-UP PEEKABOO: DIGGERS!

PE: Maike Biederstädt

DK Children

July 4, 2023

978-0744080353

$12.99

WHERE IS LITTLE BUNNY?

PE: Jean Claude?

Campbell Books

July 4, 2023

978-1035022878

$8.99

WHERE IS LITTLE TIGER?

PE: Jean Claude? Campbell Books

July 4, 2023

978-1035022861

$8.99

MOVE! (ENGLISH VERSION OF ACTION!)

PE: David A Carter Fall 2023

THE POP-UP GUIDE: CITIES AROUND THE WORLD

PE: Sandra de la Prada? Twirl

August 15, 2023

979-1036358524

$18.99

NEVER TOUCH A DINOSAUR!

PE: Stuart Lynch? Make Believe Ideas

August 1, 2023

978-1803371603

$14.99

CLASSIC POP-UPS: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLE

PE: David Hawcock

Canterbury Classics

July 18, 2023

978-1645178231

$24.99

CLASSIC POP-UPS: DRACULA

PE: David Hawcock

Canterbury Classics

July 18, 2023

978-1645178217

$24.99

CLASSIC POP-UPS: FRANKENSTEIN

PE: David Hawcock

Canterbury Classics

July 18, 2023

978-1645178224

POPPITS POPPITS

by Ellen G. K. Rubin

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Have you signed up for the next Movable Book Society’s conference? Don’t miss it! It is jam-packed with events and is always so much fun. September 28-October 1, 2023, in Cleveland, OH at the Kimpton Schofield Hotel. It will be a hybrid conference with events on Zoom for those who can’t make the trip. BUT…if you go to Cleveland, you may want to bring “particular” books for signing. Which ones? TBA.

NEW THIS YEAR –International Scholarships

A limited number of conference scholarships have been made available by lottery. Each scholarship covers the conference fee, one year’s membership, and a $500 stipend to be used for hotel and/or flight. Two scholarships will be reserved exclusively for international attendees and will feature a travel stipend of $1000.00. Recipients will be asked to assist at the conference. Recipients will be announced soon.

BIDDING IS NOW OPEN!

The First-Ever Movable Book Society PRE-Conference Virtual Auction. One of the most exciting components of the Movable Book Society conventions is the silent auction, featuring untold numbers of great pop-up and movable books. Preview and bid here.

OBITUARY

We have lost a brilliant and devoted collector of movable books. Dr. Owen Gingerich [1930-2023] died May 28, 2023, at the age of 93. Professor Gingerich was a professor of astrophysics at Harvard University and senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. I had the pleasure of visiting him and seeing his vast collection of movable astronomy books kept behind bank vault doors at Harvard. In 2000, the MBS had the awesome experience of having Dr. Gingerich as our keynote speaker at the Brooklyn Pops Up! Conference in NYC. He was generous to a fault with his presence and also his loan to the exhibit of a page from the Astronomicum Caesareum. He began his keynote address by speaking in Chaucerian English teaching us that Chaucer had made a movable dial for his son to show how the galaxy was organized. What a thrill to have such an august speaker at our conference. He continued to be generous to The Popuplady with his input on rare movable books. RIP Owen. You are exceptional!

BOOK FAIRS

How wonderful to see book fairs are back and in the flesh! Below are some being mounted around the USA but if you want to see where most of this info comes from, and to look ahead to future fairs, log on HERE

Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair, St. Paul, MN; Friday July 7-July 8, 2023. Catering to experienced and beginning book collectors and featuring books printed during several different eras of history. Sounds perfect!

I would hope to see pop-up books for sale at the Newberry Library Book Fair in Chicago, IL, July 28-July 30, 2023. The movable book exhibit will have just ended, and popups should still be on the booksellers’ minds. Volunteer if you can or donate books.

The Bodleian Library in Oxford, England is presenting an exhibition of alphabet themed artists books. At least one MBS member has an entry: a tunnel book by Amy Lapidow of The Three Ring Binders in Somerville, MA. Alphabets Alive! is open July 19 until January 21, 2024

Arkansas Book and Paper Show, Jacksonville, AR; Saturday August 12-13, 2023 They promise examples of collectible and rare books, postcards, maps, prints, and ephemera, affordable and expensive.

32nd Vermont Summer Book Fair, Bennington, VT; August 13, 2023

The Annual Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair, Castle Rock, CO; September 8-9, 2023. They are offering a wide variety of items, like rare books, ephemera, first editions, signed books, maps, americana, posters, art prints, brochures, postcards, children’s books, photography and more!

Not too early to mark your calendars for the October 27-29, 2023, ABAA/The Boston Book Fair. See and/or purchase movable books you’ve never seen before! Booksellers are from around the globe. FREE admission for students with current valid student ID, children 12 and under as well as librarians, curators, and related non-profit cultural institution workers. See site for details.

VIRTUAL BOOK FAIRS

A positive result of COVID is the creation of virtual book fairs. Shop from the comfort of your computer. The Popuplady has added to her collection successfully from several of these fairs.

The largest aggregation of fairs is provided by Getman. Check the website for upto-date information. There are several paper fairs throughout the Summer and into the Fall.

EXHIBITIONS

Keep in mind that the Newberry Library exhibit, Pop-ups Through the Ages, is open until July15. Get there if you can! The library is open to the public and free of charge.

Always a treat are the exhibitions and classes at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. Several presenters are Movable Book Society book artists. The present exhibition, Visual Volumes: Contemporary Exploration in Book Arts is on until September 9, 2023. Try to visit. [see Workshops below]

MULTIMEDIA

There is much to learn and experience at the Movable Book Society’s FB website. It is quite dynamic, and we look forward to your contribution.

Here is a website packed with links to pertinent movable book information. Whether you’re into 19th century movable books or have just discovered Nister, Tuck, and Darton, to name a few, there is much to learn here.

WORKSHOPS

Can you get to England this Summer? There are a host of book-related workshops being offered. Many are listed here.

And while you’re in England, why not visit Hay-on-Wye in Wales, a town totally devoted to books!

MBS member, Maria G. Pisano, will give a workshop, Make Your Mark: Printing Without a Press, at the Center for Book Arts in NYC, Wednesday, July 19, 1-3:30PM. Registration closes July 12.

And MBS director, Shawn Sheehy’s workshop at the Center for Book Arts is Popups Summer Camp, July 25-28, 2023. The class is geared to students 11 years old and up. Registration closes July 18.

The 2023 MBS Hybrid Conference

Cleveland, Ohio

The Kimpton Schofield Hotel

September 28-October 1

Keynote speaker: Peter Dahmen

Conference Highlights

Attend in person or virtually from home

Viewing all conference presentations in real time

13 presentations featuring historians, paper engineers, conservators, and more

Tour of the American Greetings facility

Post-conference tour of the nearby Mazza Museum

An online portion of the silent auction

Voting for the Meggendorfer Prize for Trade Books

The Book Fair, The Auction, The Meggendorfer Prizes

Many meals provided

To register, make your hotel reservation, or for more information visit movablebooksociety.org/ conference