VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 MAY 2000
A
The Pop-up Mickey Mouse. Story and illustrations by the staff of Walt Disney Studios. New York, Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., [1933]. 28 p., 22x17 cm.
Early Disney Pop-up and Novelty Books Theo Geilen The Netherlands
While writing a letter to answer a question by Mrs. Bettyrae Eisenstein in the August 1999 issue of the Movable Stationery, we thought this information might be interesting for a broader readership. So we decided to write this article about the early Disney pop-ups and novelty books as published initially by Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., in the 1930s and almost simultaneously in several different European countries. Blue Ribbon Books published six of these Disney titles, four in 1933 and two in 1934. Why they stopped publishing Disney is unclear. The paper engineering for all the titles was probably done by Harold Lentz, though he is not credited in the books. It is remarkable that all the pop-ups are illustrated front and back.
The book was copyrighted in 1933 by Walt Disney Enterprises and has three pop-ups, one in the center of the book and one on the front and back endpapers. A reprint of the book appeared in 1993 from Applewood Books, Bedford, Mass. It is unclear if the original edition had a dust wrapper.
Apparently Spain was the first country
to
publish
translation,
year
We wouldn't be surprised if there also have been editions for the Scandinavian, the eastern European and/or the Asian market, but we have not yet come across any of them.
The first two Disney titles were announced by Blue Ribbon Books in May 1933, but were published in August of that year in 50,000 copies, to be sold for 75Scents (US).
after
American
a
the
first
edition came: E ] raton Mickey en el
circo. We will give here the editions of the Blue Ribbon books, both in English and other languages, as well as a description of some European titles for which we haven't traced an American original edition. Maybe some of the readers will recognize them and can give additional information. Whether there was a connection between Blue Ribbon and the foreign editions or not, is not clear; apparently the Disney Company itself marketed books abroad, as is suggested by the copyright statements found in several of the European editions. The foreign editions normally copied the American books exactly, but we have heard also about English and French editions that have their pop-ups illustrated on the fronts only. Besides, some of the French editions are slightly larger and give, therefore, a bit more of the borders of the original Disney pictures.
a
for
Barcelona,
Editorial El Molino, [1934]. The cover of
the
book
has
"Tlustracién
sorpresa" to announce the pop-ups in the book.
Italy followed the next year with Topolino nel Circo. Illustrazioni Sorpresa. Milano, Edizioni Walt Disney Mondadori, [1935], the translation done by Mary Costa. -
Most probably in 1936 there was the German translation, by Hans Schenk from Ziirich and published in Switzerland: Micky Maus im Zirkus. und illustriert von Walt Disney. Zurich, Micky-Maus-Verlag Bollmann, [ca.1936]. The frontcover gives as a kind of series title: ""WunderBiicher" (Wonder-Books), and the copyright "By Walt Disney Mickey Mouse S.A., Paris." Finally there was a Dutch edition as Micky Muis in het Circus. Door Walt Disney, met illustraties van den Schrijver. Amsterdam, Uitgeverij "D.M.B.", [1938]. The front cover has as a series title: "Serie 'Pieco' boeken," the translation done by Mrs. J.Rienstra-Went and the copyright by Walt Disney Enterprises. The "D.M.B." stands for "De Moderne Boekhandel."