MOVABLE STATIONERY Volume 1 Number 1
'September, 1993
The Movable Book Society The formation of The Movable Book Society has received an enthusiastic reception. Over 60 collectors and book dealers joined in the first two months and many more people have written or called requesting additional information about the organization. The Society exists to provide a forum for collectors to share enthusiasm and exchange information about pop-up and movable books. Movable Stationery, the quarterly newsletter of the Society, will be guided by the interests, suggestions, and contributions of the members. In order for that to happen I need to hear from you. Please let me know what you would like to read about, and, more importantly, what you would like to write about. This is your organization, please take an active role in its direction. Ann Montanaro -
Pricing Pop-up Books Dorothy G. Cook
Welcome to the world of pop-up books. My husband likes them better than my regular stock of rare children's books and our two granddaughters love them and are fascinated by them. There is excitement in opening a book of pop-ups. Among other things you wonder if they are going to work! But usually I am awed when looking at one of the more elaborate ones; how ingenious is the mind of the paper engineer who dreamed this up. But, how do you know what to price an out-ofprint pop-up book? It doesn't matter much what sort of a book it is - literature, cookery book, bibliography, children's book, medical book, illustrated or pop-up book. There are certain
criteria by which it is judged. Is the book complete (especially does it have a dust wrapper if is it supposed to have one)? After that comes the condition. Is it practically as new or does it have a few tears in the paper? Does the cover have a few spots? Are there fingerprints, foxing, or crayon marks by budding artists? Or, in the case of pop-up books, are the pop-ups complete. and working well? It has been said that children's books because of the probability of rough handling don't have to be in as good condition as, for instance, modern first editions to be judged in fine condition. But I can't see much difference. It has been my experience that
really dedicated children's book collectors are more interested in books in top condition and are willing to pay higher prices for them. Other points to be considered are the book's rarity, its age, the illustrator, and in the case of pop-ups, the paper engineer, and whether it is of interest for some reason to more than one group of collectors. Many books are rare and old, but nobody wants to read them, so they have no particular value. Other books of fairly recent date are considered scarce because there are several different groups collecting them and thus they are worth more, because of the law of supply and demand. The illustrator has a great deal to do with the value of a pop-up book. There are many wonderful illustrators of children's books but not many of them illustrate pop-up books. The illustrators of pop-up books whose books are the most in demand are C. Carey Cloud, Harold Lentz, Julian Wehr, V. Kubasta, and the Walt Disney Studio. Also, popular are pop-up books illustrated by famous illustrators such as Emest H. Shepard, Tony Sarg, Norman Rockwell, Beatrix Potter, and Maurice Sendak. Publishers from the 20th century whose books are avidly collected are Blue Ribbon Books, Pleasure Books, Warne (cut-out books), McLoughlin Bros., Hallmark, and others. Some books have collectors in different spheres collecting them so naturally they will be in greater demand, as for example the Alice in Wonderland