Special Collections

There are universities and museums around the world that collect and study pop-up and movable books. Take the time to explore these sites in full. They have much to offer.

Here is a blogger, Whitney Trettien, who has studied digital images and found these early anatomical flap books.

Early movable books from the collection of book dealer, JoAnn Reisler. Books shown at The Movable Book Society 2008 Conference in Washington, DC.

Picturing Childhood 1550-1990-the UCLA Special Collections, a wonderful history and more!

“Pop-up and Movable Books A Tour Through Their History” at the University of North Texas. It’s animated!

La Cosmographia with a volvelle similar to the one seen in Sacrobosco’s Sphaera.

The University of Delaware collection of movable books.

Ann Montanaro, president and founder of the Movable Book Society, mounted this exhibition at Rutgers University, NJ, from her own collection.

Migrations of the Mind: Manuscripts from the Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection-November 17, 2009-April 18, 2010. Be sure to look at The Book of Secrets with very early volvelles.

A French website totally devoted to pop-ups! ooh-la-la!

Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine now houses the Harold Goralnick [MBS member] collection of about 1800 pop-up books. In 2011, a major exhibition was mounted.