Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books!

27 Nov 2006 Category: Arts & Crafts, Features, Illustration, Recommended, Top Page 10, Worldwide

When you open this special book all the characters and the background instantly pop up. Almost if as the world in the book suddenly turns into the real thing. Pop-up books do always surprise you and can lead you to a nostalgic and wonderful dream. Today I will take you to the world of pop-up books!

Written by Ryoko
Translated by Chiemi

The very original pop-up book appeared in 1306. It was a round shaped astrological book made with sheepskin. In the eighteenth century the moving paper books for kids started to be published, and it’s said that the first one was issued by a British company in 1765. These moving paper books had flaps on the pictures and by pulling them the pictures changed. Then from the nineteenth century on books whose pictures actually pop up or the ones that change their pictures when you pull a tab were published and became instantly very popular.

It is said that the masterpiece of these kind of books is “Lustiges Automaten-Theater” made by Lothar Meggendorfer (that was already featured earlier in PingMag). The remake of this book has been published for a long time and still people take great delight in reading it.

image turning wheel

Paper Engineer

Probably not many people will know his occupation. A paper engineer makes pop-up books, packaging and paper crafts. He needs artistic knowledge, skills and a good sense, which is very different from a paper sculptor or paper cutting (Kirigami) artist. The best thing with a pop-up book is not just that it’s three-dimensional but also features an intricacy and beauty when it’s folded ingeniously. The pictures usually consist of layers of paper very accurate in length and angle.

The pop-up book artists who represent the world

Robert Sabuda and Matthew Rinehart are two pop-up book artists who represent the world in their way: They are the ones that widen the possibility of pop-up books. Their prominent skills and interesting ideas fascinate everyone from young to old all over the world. Many of their books have become best sellers and are also even called the revolution of pop-up books.

Alice growing out of the house

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Robert Sabuda made a pop-up book of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by using the illustrations of John Tenniel. The book is unbelievably beautiful and will undoubtedly impress you much. It shows dynamically the scenes in which Alice gets bigger by drinking the strange liquid, then playing cards fly in the sky and Alice falls finally into a hole of the wonderland.

Alice’s psychodelic fall into the rabbit hole

baby becomes pig

Robert Sabuda’s “Winter’s Tale” is a story about an owl, a fox, and a bear living in the fantasy world. Being beautifully made it depicts their life quite vivid.

Winter Tale’s blinking snow house

“Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs” by Robert Sabuda & Matthew Rinehart contains information about 35 dinosaurs in 3D. The reason why they made this book is because they always thought that usually a dinosaurs’ encyclopedia only shows the illustrations and that is quite boring.

In this encyclopedia every single dinosaur comes back to life again!

scary Tyrannosaurus Rex popping-up

Robert Sabuda and Matthew Rinehart will both come to Tokyo on the14th of December for a talk show and book signing at Book & Cafe Ehon House (Tokyo, Toyoshima ku, Mejiro 1-7-14 Misato Building 1F). In case you are around and like their stuff - here is your chance!

People keep creating beautiful and interesting things. It was very difficult to find these excellent pop-up books when I was a kid. I really wonder how I would feel like if I had encountered the books earlier…

61 Comments

1. Cool, I like pop-up books! Those dinosaur ones are amazing, so intricate and so much of it pops out!! The Alice in Wonderland one also looks just as brilliant! :)

   Posted by: G on November 27th, 2006 at 10:05 pm

2. popupbooks: my favourite!

   Posted by: 100kr on November 27th, 2006 at 10:09 pm

3. where do i find some tutorials about how to make one popup book ? it ill be so cool to make one of these . :)

   Posted by: victor b on November 27th, 2006 at 10:40 pm

4. yeah any tutorials? my fav was the 1 where alice drop into the rabit hole!
   cool post

   Posted by: iforget on November 28th, 2006 at 2:14 am

5. i would love to see world of found girl rabbit pop-up story. how a wonderful world it could be! but i love this!!!!

   Posted by: minako on November 28th, 2006 at 5:43 am

6. Victor B. - The Elements of Pop-Up by David Carter is an excellent introduction to the mechanics of Pop-Up. After going through it, you will be able to recognize the techniques used by Sabudo (and many others); they are the same just more sophisticated in the application. Study a few of the Master’s and spend some time doing trial and error and you’ll have something interesting going on in no time :-)

   Posted by: Robert Buss on November 28th, 2006 at 5:56 am

7. Sabuda also published a fabulous version of “The Night Beofre Christmas”, which is currently one of my daughter’s favorite bed-time stories. Everything he does is just amazing.

   Posted by: Eric Meyer on November 28th, 2006 at 6:49 am

8. man! that’s pretty cool. i remember as kid enjoying reading books if they were the pop-up kind. great post. :)

   Posted by: Ced on November 28th, 2006 at 9:06 am

9. [...] Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books! :: temas que pueden estar relacionados :: Estos sí son Libros PopUpEbooks de libros de diseño {Califícame}  Loading … [...]

   Posted by: Blog Vecindad Gráfica Diseño Gráfico » Blog Archive » El mundo de Libros Popup on November 28th, 2006 at 10:36 am

10. awesome awesome!
    if you’d like a pop-up book with an ethical story to tell your kids, check out this one i got for my friend’s daughter: http://www.newint.com.au/catalog/globalgarden.htm

    Posted by: sighmon on November 28th, 2006 at 12:41 pm

11. fancy! if pop-up book can combine with chinese paper cutting, I believe that will ignite more sparks!

    Posted by: keanu on November 28th, 2006 at 3:17 pm

12. [...] Pop-up books Tags:Inspiration, JapanOnce again, Pingmag has a delightful feature, this time covering the amazing world of pop-up books. There are some great examples there and some videos, including some detailing the astounding Alice in Wonderland pop-up book (thats one christmas present sorted). I think that what is so enchanting about pop-up books is their ability to conceal a hidden world, to compress surprises and wonder into what appears to be a mundane object. You feel an amazing sense of discovery as you turn the pages, pull out strips of card and pull back flaps to explore the hidden treasures - the sort of responses usually only triggered by a much more active experience yet packaged into a children’s book. As an aesthetic its also very appealing, and has been used to much success in games like Paper Mario. [...]

    Posted by: handcircus » Blog Archive » Pop-up books on November 28th, 2006 at 6:46 pm

13. great, unusual article!
    this has inspired me to try making my own pop up cards for christmas
    :)

    Posted by: katekamikaze on November 28th, 2006 at 7:07 pm

14. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books! (tags: popupbooks books) [...]

    Posted by: Heraclitean Fire » Links on November 28th, 2006 at 8:24 pm

15. […] ein ungewöhnlicher Artikel im japanischen Designmagazin pinmag […]

    Posted by: seite4.blog.de on November 28th, 2006 at 10:18 pm

16. [...] Amazing Pop-Up Books   [...]

    Posted by: in my diatribe » you make me wanna link on November 28th, 2006 at 11:10 pm

17. i had various pop up books as a child and i loved them
    the only problem though is that the little parts tend to brake if you are not careful.

    Great article as always

    Posted by: lolop on November 29th, 2006 at 10:56 am

18. omg, alice in wonderful book!

    Posted by: sun on November 29th, 2006 at 5:30 pm

19. good for you!! nice site

    Posted by: georgina on November 29th, 2006 at 8:16 pm

20. You did it again: ¡¡an amazing article on an amazing subject!!

    Posted by: xmanoel on November 29th, 2006 at 11:20 pm

21. Pop up books are like entering a fantasy land, where you dont read the books but actually interact with the characters.

    Nice compilation!

    Posted by: Paavani on December 1st, 2006 at 3:23 pm

22. but..anyone can tell me where to buy?
    thanks

    Posted by: x-noise on December 2nd, 2006 at 7:32 am

23. Wow, thank you for this feature. I love Robert Sabuda’s work! He’s really taken paper engineering to the next level. I have some of his books including Cookie Count, 12 Days of Christmas, and the Wizard of Oz. If I could, I’d buy all his books! :D

    Posted by: Cynthia Arre on December 3rd, 2006 at 5:19 pm

24. [...] Pop-up books! are the best!. I wish I was back to 5 years old, I’d cry all day to get books like this. [...]

    Posted by: Freakuency » Popup Books on December 3rd, 2006 at 8:37 pm

25. Wonderful

    Posted by: Brent on December 3rd, 2006 at 9:06 pm

26. [...] [Via PingMags historie om smukke skub-op-bøger]. [...]

    Posted by: 15 minutter » Blog-arkiv » Pop-ups jeg gerne vil tillade on December 4th, 2006 at 6:51 pm

27. i tried to do such a project. as soon as you can see in my site.. my first pop-up try-out :)

    Posted by: Mert Suvaydas on December 11th, 2006 at 6:22 pm

28. I met this amazing paper engineer while working at disney that actually figured out a way to make the PIRATE ship from the pirates of the carribean pop up out of the book and actually float across the gutter on a track. it was phenomenal. too bad disney is too shortsited to but a budget behind it.

    Posted by: seeMYKdesign on December 13th, 2006 at 7:40 am

29. [...] The amazing world of pop up books. A Giant in the Streets. Givin’ Blu A Run For His Money - Sam3 Goes “Fuckin’ Huge’ in Murcia [...]

    Posted by: CHROMEMUSIC » Some arty things on December 13th, 2006 at 10:01 am

30. [...] Bağlantı: http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/11/27/pop-up-books/ [...]

    Posted by: BÜLTEN » Blog Arşivi » Katlama Sanatı on December 14th, 2006 at 1:31 am

31. [...] Was this selection useful for you? Hopefully! PingMag wishes you a lovely, warm, cosy and cuddly Christmas through a shiny POP-UP greeting card! [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » 10 last minute Christmas presents on December 22nd, 2006 at 6:58 pm

32. it is really waaaaaaaw, it is amaizing mag i have ever seen before….!!!

    but i try to know how the di cut ???

    thanks
    akram BBDO
    GraphicDesigner

    Posted by: waw on December 27th, 2006 at 7:02 pm

33. Amazing!!! cool site and informative thanks for featuring it, very inspiring.

    Posted by: GILBZ on January 8th, 2007 at 4:47 pm

34. [...] about pop-up books Wow. See also. Alice in Wonderland Link to this | E-mail this | Digg this | Post to del.icio.us Published Wednesday, November 29, 2006 4:17 PM by PeterDarbyshire [...]

    Posted by: The Province on January 18th, 2007 at 12:57 am

35. your book suck

    Posted by: Richard Burton on January 27th, 2007 at 3:30 am

36. What a GREAT post! Thanks so much for this — a fantastic use of YouTube, to boot! I Googled “fancy pop-up” and you’re one of the first results I got and it was exactly what I was looking for! :D

    Posted by: Matt on January 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pm

37. [...] * Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books! [...]

    Posted by: Creative Rebirth » Blog Archive » Best posts on the web for January 2007 on February 1st, 2007 at 3:06 pm

38. What is your name? Where do you live?

    Posted by: Cassandra on February 4th, 2007 at 3:10 am

39. Fun page! I’ve been looking for a manufacturer for pop up cards … does anyone know of one?

    Posted by: Ginger on March 5th, 2007 at 3:29 am

40. Wow. what an inspiration! I was just going to make a simple pop up book for a media kit, now I’m going to go wild.

    Posted by: zz snow on March 28th, 2007 at 9:51 am

41. These playing cards at top look quite nice.

    Posted by: helen on July 2nd, 2007 at 3:04 am

42. [...] Here’s a great article in PingMag on pop up books [...]

    Posted by: TJBookarts»Blog Archive » Popping up… on July 15th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

43. For all fans of pop-up books, http://www.livresanimes.com is the first french website entirely dedicated to these books. Only in french but probably the only one which give information about new pop-up books from all country.
    You are welcome.

    Posted by: thierry on August 1st, 2007 at 3:45 am

44. it is a great website

    Posted by: charles on September 17th, 2007 at 10:56 pm

45. [...] el blog PingMag hay un excelente articulo que nos muestra los inicios de los pop-up y nos muestra un montón de [...]

    Posted by: Pop-up books! « graphic on October 4th, 2007 at 6:12 am

46. Incredible!! I need to get David Carter’s Book! I’am student illustrator and student of San Carlos Academy in Mexico City…I must do a Pop-Up Book about “Death Day” (Dia de Muertos) in my Design Seminary Class..Well, excelelent article!!

    Posted by: Alfredo Aguirre on October 23rd, 2007 at 1:23 pm

47. Hi1 i´m a brazilian children books writer and a big fan of pop ups books. I have a lot of them, u can find my collection in
    http://angelaescritora.multiply.com/photos/album/1/Livros
    thanks for this wonderful page!

    Posted by: Angela on November 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 am

48. and here i hear again… one more story of the legend… Sabuda rules man… ..

    Posted by: sachin george on November 10th, 2007 at 2:49 pm

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50. Thanks to Oprah, Obama camp claims biggest crowd yet

    Posted by: gasoftvu on January 30th, 2008 at 3:36 am

51. very nice I m Love

    Posted by: josiney on March 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am

52. [...] pop-up kitaplardan bahsediyordu. Şimdi orada görünce benim algım açıldı, o yüzden her yerde pop-up kitaplar gördüğümü söyleyebilirsiniz tabi. Sabah işe geldiğimde ilk olarak yukarıda görmüş [...]

    Posted by: truetypelies · Bugün pop-up günü olsun! on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 pm

53. [...] el blog PingMag hay un excelente artículo que nos muestra los inicios de los pop-up y nos muestra un montón de [...]

    Posted by: » Pop-up books! on April 15th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

54. [...] el blog PingMag hay un excelente artículo que nos muestra los inicios de los pop-up y nos muestra un montón de [...]

    Posted by: graphic » Pop-up books! on May 7th, 2008 at 4:43 am

55. oh my god!!!! please tell me you have tutorials to some of these they are soooo cool!!!!

    Posted by: chantelle on June 10th, 2008 at 11:33 pm

56. [...] http://pingmag.jp/2006/11/27/pop-up-books/ [...]

    Posted by: BIBLIOBLOC » Llibres pop-up on September 10th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

57. [...] for some truly stunning pop-up books, check out this very cool post. And, fortunately, it does come complete with lots of pictures, and even videos! Really, you [...]

    Posted by: Pop-up books: a superficial, 2D look : Marzipan Bingo on December 22nd, 2008 at 5:23 am

58. dave is a cool kid

    Posted by: yo on June 9th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

59. [...] em alguns passos você pode montar e aprender. Mais videos incriveis?  no site da revista japonesa pingmag existem MUITAS outras obras do cara. Deixe seu comentário! tweet [...]

    Posted by: popup books | IdeaFixa - artes visuais, ilustração, design e fotografia on September 10th, 2009 at 1:39 am

60. [...] Read more at PingMag… [...]

    Posted by: Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books! « thinkingouttabox on January 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 pm

61. oh eah!i loved these books all my life!i think it very interesting for babes and adult too.great!thank u for!))

    Posted by: Anonymous on February 10th, 2010 at 4:23 pm

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