MOVABLE STATIONERY March, 1994
Volume 2 Number 1
Building a Basic Reference Collection Susan Rothwell
A basic reference collection is an important supplement to a movable book collection
contributing to the understanding of the history, development, and publishing trends of these marvelous books. Building such a collection requires only a few significant titles. Peter Haining's Movable books An illustrated history (New English Library, 1979) is a beautifully photographed text featuring the "pages & pictures of folding, revolving, dissolving, mechanical, scenic, panoramic, dimensional, changing, pop-up and other novelty books from the collection of David & Briar Phillips. The work includes an informative history of movable hooks. The large, clear photographs show a variety of 19th Century titles including several by Ernest Nister and Lothar Meggendorfer. Four fold-out, full color illustrated pages provide sequential documentation of two books with movable plates and of three panorama books. The lack of an index makes this book difficult to use as a reference source, but its 141 magnificant pages are an essential work for collectors. The book is out-of-print but is often seen in dealers'
catalogs. The best of 3D books (Rikuyo-Sha Publishing,
1989) by Tadashi Yokoyama is a 155-page softcover book with text in both Japanese and English. It has color and black and white
photographs of "pop-up books, stand-up books, flapped books, transforming books, hole books, panorama books, and visual-trick books. About 100 masterpieces of recent three dimensional books of the United States, Great Britain and West Germany and so forth are introduced according to style. The works illustrated are primarily from the 1970s and 1980s and a large percentage are in English. There is no index to this book but it is a visual treat to browse. Bright, color photographs clearly show the dimensional illustrations.
The best of 3D books is no longer available in the United States and is rarely seen in out-of-print
catalogs.
Pop-up and movable books A bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 1993, 559p.) by Ann Montanaro fills a different need. It documents and briefly describes over 1,600 English-language movable books published from the 1850s to 1991. The scope of this reference work is limited to titles "in which an action by the reader produces motion in the illustration. It is arranged alphabetically by title and includes indexes by name, series, and date.
Paper toys of the world (Hobby House Press, 1986, 235p.) by Blair Whitton contains a 25-page chapter entitled "Toy books with movement. It features color and black and white photographs of about three dozen movable books. The primary focus of this book is paper games and toys but the coverage of movable books is good and illustrates several books not seen in other texts. Carolyn Clugston Michaels' Children's book collecting (Library Professional Publications, 1993) provides an in-depth look at the collecting process. In the 197-page volume Michaels presents a brief historical overview of children's literature, discusses individual collectors and collections, describes the collecting process, and examines current trends in book acquisition. Even though only a short paragraph mentions movable books, this is a thorough text, interesting to read, and a useful source.
Two other books contain information about movable books. Percy Muir's English children's books 1600-1900 (B.T. Batsford, 1954, 255p.) has a chapter on "Nick Knacks" which includes descriptions of a number of movable books. The collector's book of children's books by Eric Quayle (Clarkson N. Potter, 1971, 144p.) includes a 9page chapter entitled "Miscellanea, toy books a moveable books. Black and white photographs illustrate a half dozen movable books.