25 February 2021 press release

The German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library acquires a collection of kinetic books

A unique collection of more than 4,200 pop-up books has been added to the collection of the German Museum of Books and Writing. Dating from the 15th century (facsimiles) to the 21st, these printed works build bridges between illustrated books, paper theatres, silhouettes, flip books, and scientific explanatory boards. The Hartung collection was assembled for over more than three decades and is now one of the most extensive collections of kinetic books in the German-speaking countries. The pop-up, folding, sliding, or cut-out techniques used in these newly acquired publications create endless illusions of space and movement.

While traditional books contain a sequence of texts and sometimes images offer linear reading, kinetic books are a hybrid, versatile type of medium that defy straightforward classification. As representatives of an analogue multimediality based solely on paper, they are harbingers of digital media convergence. Like digital multimedia, they combine images, movement, text, and even sound.

Stephanie Jacobs, Director of the German Museum of Books and Writing, says about the new acquisition: “We are delighted we had the opportunity to acquire this extensive collection of kinetic books. The Hartung collection has an important place in the German Museum of Books and Writing’s interdisciplinary collection and closes a significant gap in our international media history archives.”

A large part of the collection can be classified as children’s and juvenile literature, especially fairy tales, sagas, and pop culture. However, it also includes numerous works on popular science and some that are explicitly technical, such as “model atlases” of medicine or machinery.

The collection reflects the history of kinetic literature, ranging from facsimiles of 15th century volvelles (rotating elements) and 18th century paper theatres to the golden age of this genre in the late 19th century. The growing number of toy books for middle-class households at that time caused the genre to boom. Its most prominent pioneer was painter and children’s book author Lothar Meggendorfer, who from the 1870s on invented many of the consequently used techniques.

As of the mid-20th century, key ideas for the further development of kinetic books came from the Anglo-Saxon countries. Approximately half of the collection consists of English works; the other half contains a large number of German titles. In addition, the collection provides insights into kinetic books in numerous other European and non-European languages. It includes examples of all the great “paper engineers” both past and present, e.g. Vojtěch Kubašta (CZ), Kees Moerbeek (NL), S. Louis Giraud (UK), Raphael Tuck (GB), Geraldine Clyne (US), Robert Sabuda (US), Matthew Reinhart (US), and Ron van der Meer (NL).

Contact person

Dr. Stephanie Jacobs
Tel.: +49 341 2271-575
s.jacobs@dnb.de

Background

The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries, our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored in books. The task of the German National Library's German Museum of Books and Writing is to collect, exhibit and carry out scientific work on testimonies to the history of books and media. Founded in 1884 in Leipzig as the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German Book Trade Museum), it is the oldest museum in the world in the field of book culture, and also one of the most important with regard to the scope and quality of its holdings.

Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German.