MOVABLE STATIONERY June, 1994
Volume 2 Number 3
ABA Convention Ann Montanaro
The American Bookseller's trade show and convention was held in Los Angeles between May 28 and 31, 1994. Over 1,800 exhibitors filled 320,000 square feet of exhibit space in the Los Angeles Convention Center's massive halls. The convention, which was not open to the public, attracted over 25,000 registered visitors. All of the major domestic publishers occupied large display areas with enticing presentations of their forthcoming publications. While the large publishers had exhibits covering a wide range of subjects and formats, much of the display space housed specialized publishers with their displays arranged by category of materials. This permitted attendees to choose to see, or to ignore, specific categories of exhibits such as small press books, foreign books, reprints or electronic books. However, the browser looking for pop-up and movable books found interesting titles in unexpected places throughout the convention halls. Almost 200 new titles identified at the convention are listed in the New Publications column beginning on page 3 .
MOVABLE CAL1584 1994
we
Felt A wonderful exhibit of pop-up and movable books, "Magical Movable Books: 1684-1994," occupied a prominent spot on the display floor. Presented jointly by the University of California, Los Angeles and the American Booksellers Association, the exhibit showed "the world's best interactive books." A twelve-page exhibit catalog, unfortunately no longer available, included a brief history of movable books and a ist of the 260 titles
included in the exhibition. The books were selected from over 2,000 interactive books in UCLA
Library's Special Collection Department. Many of the antique books were selected from the extensive collection donated to the university by Waldo Hunt, Chairman of Intervisual Books, Inc. Several members of The Movable Book Society took advantage of an invitation extended in the March edition of Movable Stationery and attended both the exhibit and bookseller's displays as Mr. Hunt's
guests.
The exhibit included a wide range of titles from
a 1476 work entitled Calendarium to Disney titles
published in 1994. Several harlequinades and peepshow books illustrated 18th and 19th Century examples of movable books. Also included were representative books by Dean & Son from the 1870s such as Surprise model picture book and Tale of an old sugar tub, both in wonderful condition. Nister selections from the late 1800s included The children's wonderland, The merry-go-round, and The soldier panorama book, a detailed, historical work unlike most of Nister's idealized picture books. The 20th Century was covered with a variety of works from Blue Ribbon Books' Pop-up Pinocchio and Pop-up Mother Goose to Jolly Jump-ups journey through space and Cowboys in pop-up action pictures. A particularly interesting midcentury work, From the bottom up, is a large book published by the Mutual Broadcasting Company with three outstanding double-page pop-ups. Kubasta's influence was shown with his grand popups in Marco Polo, The Tournament, In the Jungle, and An American Indian Camp. Large glass display cases gave the viewer the opportunity to see the pop-up from several sides. In addition, color reproductions of the cover illustrations were displayed along with the open books. This was not a static exhibit; many books were displayed on stands with mechanical page tuners that showed the pop-ups opening and closing. The exhibit attracted enthusiastic visitors who recognized favorite works from their childhood and expressed amazement at the number and variety of pop-up works on display.