New & Notable Pop-ups & Movables

Featured on Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn: New & Notable Pop-ups & Movables from the Cooper-Hewitt Library:

The first movable books for children, developed in England in the 1700s, were harlequinades (stories featuring the comic character Harlequin). Designed to teach a moral, the tale unfolds as a series of flaps are opened.

The Falshood of External Appearances (sic) created in the 1790s in England is a fine example of a flap book called a harlequinade. Also known as “turned up” books, harlequinades were first created by English bookseller and printer Robert Sayer in 1765. They are considered to be the first movable books created for children. Sayer, who originally called these books “metamorphoses,” was inspired by the popularity of pantomime productions of his day. He mimicked the changing scenes of a play with the use of a series of illustrated flaps—that when lifted revealed the next scene of the narrative.  Like the pantomime theater performance, harlequinades often featured the adventures of a clown or harlequin and were often written to teach a moral. Purchased  with the support of the Libraries Special Collections Fund.—Elizabeth Broman

The Falshood of External Appearances, England, ca. 1790