Toy and Movable Books
quality graphic books for children, and they began producing a wide variety
of interactive items including paper dolls, games, and books with increasingly
inventive structures and mechanisms. The reader could unfold pages, lift flaps,
peek through holes, slide paper tabs that changed the scene in a frame, move jointed figures,
and tug on stiff paper tongues that opened cabinets and brought entire scenes to life.
Little Henry had an exciting life — he was kidnapped, forced to
beg, sold to a chimney sweep, became a regimental drummer,
joined the navy, fought fiercely in battle, and was promoted
to midshipman. Each stage of his saga is represented by a
costume into which his head can be fitted. The Orphan Girl was
published by Dean & Co., the earliest mass-producer of books
with pull tabs, see-through holes, and other moving parts.
The Lady’s Toilet, here represented by an unlicensed American
adaptation, compares the virtues suitable to a young woman
with items on her dressing table; the symbolism is revealed by
lifting a flap. Larger flaps are used in Metamorphosis, whose
short verses are revealed along with transforming images
as you open the segments successively. This “metamorphic”
structure was also used in Cinderella; larger flaps change the
scenery while smaller flaps reflect the narrative.
Ernest Nister was the first publisher to introduce automatic
pop-ups, where opening the page brought the figures up into
three-dimensional tableaux, as Puss in Boots does.
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Shury, Daniel Nathan. The History and Adventures of Little Henry, Exemplified in a Series of
Figures. London: Printed for S. and J. Fuller at the Temple of Fancy, Rathbone Place, 1810.
The Orphan Girl. London: Dean & Co., 35, Threadneedle Street, 1812.
Murray, Hannah Lindley. The American Toilet. New York: Printed and published at Imbert’s
Lithographic, 1827.
Sands, Benjamin. Metamorphosis, or, A Transformation of Pictures, with Poetical
Explanations, for the Amusement of Young Persons. Philadelphia: G. Strong, 1834.
Perrault, Charles. Cinderella. New York: McLoughlin Bro’s, N.Y., 1882.
Weedon, Lucy L. The Land of Long Ago: A Visit to Fairyland with Humpty Dumpty. London:
Ernest Nister, 1898.