Collecting Pop-Up Books & Movables: An Old Field with New Fans
- by Susan Halas
A complex view of planes battling in mid-air from FLIGHT.
THE SENSATIONAL SAMBURGER by David Pelham, Dutton, 1995. This is a pop up book in the shape of a hamburger with a different spread for the bun, the cheese, the lettuce, the patty and so forth. In the Samburger there’s a different yucky bug or slimy snail jumping out of every layer. This book and other Pelham titles can be pricey in good condition. He has produced numerous other works in a similar vein; they include a box of chocolate with many evil critters embedded in the caramel, or slugs in the pizza pie pepperoni. Because they are made to delight the sensibilities of the very young they often have been roughly handled and it is not easy to find them in pristine condition.
Another David Pelham title with the sought after WOW factor is UNIVERSE, a three dimensional study by Heather Couper and David Pelham, Random House 1985. The book depicts scientific theories as envisioned with paper engineering. It is a large volume that gets even larger when it pops. It has six spreads devoted to the big bang, galaxies, star birth, the solar system, star death and the end of the universe. The art is sensational, the engineering divine and designed to look even better if viewed with a strong light behind it. Because this book also has many little side movables, some of them with strings or other little gizmos, be sure to check that everything is present and actually works.
Pop up books by artists is a popular sub-category of the field. One of the most ingenious of this type is THE DWINDLING PARTY by Edward Gorey, Random House 1982. This is a gothic yet funny adventure of a Victorian family whose members each meet a different disastrous fate. It’s one of Gorey’s most creative works and I’ve seen it sold as low as $13 and as high as several hundred dollars. It is a book that has gone through multiple printings, so for top value it’s important that everything works and the number line begins with 1.
A pop up with exceptional paper engineering is FLIGHT: Great Planes of the Century from the Wright Brothers to the Concorde, Viking 1985, with design by Keith Moseley and paper engineering by David Rosendale and Rodger Smith. This is a large book with vivid depictions of great moments in aviation done in pop-ups. It’s notable for an unusual point of view. For example, it shows a WWI dog fight between two planes as seen from above. There is also a spread showing the Concorde, that great French plane, ready for vertical take off rising almost 11 inches off the page. Some nice copies are listed at nominal prices.
Unless you have deep pockets you’re probably not acquiring any original issue Ernest Nister work any time soon. However, good quality modern facsimile editions abound and they can be very inexpensive. One good example is ANIMAL TALES: A reproduction from an antique book by Ernest Nister, Collins, NY 1980. A good copy showing many endearing 3-D scenes from the farm yard of days gone by costs only a few dollars. Often the shipping is more expensive than the book.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 4: Various entertainers, Group of 30 items, signed or inscribed, various dates. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 27: John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Rush introducing Archibald Redford, Paris, 1783. $35,000 to $50,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 36: Robert Gould Shaw, Autograph Letter Signed to his father from Camp Andrew, Boston, 1861. $10,000 to $15,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 53: Martin Luther King Jr., Time magazine cover, signed and inscribed "Best Wishes," 1957. $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 127: Paul Gauguin, Autograph Letter regarding payment for paintings, with woodcut letterhead, 1900. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 169: Suck: First European Sex Paper, complete group of eight issues, 1969-1974. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 173: Black Panthers, The Racist Dog Policemen Must Withdraw Immediately From Our Communities, poster, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 187: Marc Attali & Jacques Delfau, Les Erotiques du Regard, first edition, Paris, 1968. $300 to $500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 213: Andy Warhol, Warhol's Index Book, first printing, New York, 1967. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 215: Cookie Mueller, Archive of 17 items, including 4 items inscribed and signed. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 249: Jamie Reid, The Ten Lessons / The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; Sex Pistols, chromogenic print with collage, signed, circa 1980. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
![Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/e47bb03e-3f3d-4f68-9e79-b0b2739ca87c.jpg "<b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 9:</b> Bible [English]. [<i>The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament,</i> 1562]. £3,000-5,000")
