Featuring: Ricky the Rabbit

Featuring a title from the Libraries' pop-up book collection and current exhibition, Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn.

Vojtěch Kubašta was born in Austria and was raised in Prague where he first studied architecture before pursuing a career as an illustrator and paper engineer. Working with Artia, a state run publishing company, he created a series on boldly colored pop-ups many that were later market by Bancroft in London. Ricky the Rabbit consists of a page or two of narrative and one large, intricate, v-fold pop-up featuring a rabbit named Ricky and his world. Kubašta’s images, reminiscent of folk art—the lay-out and design of forms—and his stories featuring animals and children—inspired many later paper engineers in America.—Stephen Van Dyk

Ricky the Rabbit. Illustrations by Vojtěch Kubašta. London: Bancroft, 1961.