POP-UP PAPER NATIVITES
During December 2004, the exhibit is a display of 30 or so paper nativities loaned from the collection of Father Matthew Powell, O.P., of Providence College.
The collection is displayed in the foyer of the Burden Classroom building, and in the school library. Father Matthew wrote the detailed history of pop-up books and paper nativities that accompanies the collection.
PAPER NATIVITIES 
Three-dimensional paper nativity scenes originated in Germany and Austria in the early 1800's. They became the Christmas creches of the poor who could not afford expensive hand carved figures. The perfection of color printing made paper nativities inexpensive to produce. The printing of paper nativities spread to Bohemia ( now in the Czech Republic) and then to the rest of Europe and North America. During Advent peddlers often went from door to door selling sheets of nativity figures. Some printing companies had as many as 200 different figures available. Color printed figures were the more expen-sive. Figures printed in black and white were less expensive and needed to be hand colored, which was usually the job of the children.
The development of mass-produced molded nativity figures in plaster and plastic in the twentieth century made the paper nativity scene less popular. _________________________
POP-UP BOOKS
Movable books actually predate the invention of the printing press. The earliest examples are the works of Ramon Llull (c1235-1316) of Majorca, a Catalan mystic and poet whose works contained volvelles or revolving discs, which he used to explain his complex philosoph-ical ideas. First designed for adults, movable books used flaps, gatefolds and volvelles and served as instruc-tional tools as well as instruments.
It wasn't until the mid-18th century that movable books were designed especially for children. That first book was Harlequinade (1765) by London printer and bookseller Robert Sayer. The industrial revolution brought with it a moneyed, leisure class that indulged its children. In addition color printing was perfected in Germany and the hand labor necessary to assemble the movable parts was cheap.
The latter part of the 19th century was the golden age of pop-ups because of the increase in the number and quality of movable books produced. They were translated into many languages, producing a world-wide audience. German paper engineer, Lothar Meggendorfer, invented the use of a rivet around which a figure could move when a tab was pulled.
The first true "pop-up," an illustration which jumps up when the page is opened, was invented by S. Louis Giraud and Theodore Brown in 1929 in England. However, the term "pop- up" was not used until the 1930's when it was copyrighted by Blue Ribbon Press of Chicago.
Few pop-ups were produced during World War II because of the shortage of both paper and labor. In the 1960's, an English advertising entrepreneur, Waldo Hunt, discovered the work of Czech artist and paper engineer, Vojtech Kubasta (1914-1992). Hunt's company, Graphics International, introduced Kubasta to the West and began producing pop-ups of its own. Hunt later teamed up with Bennett Cerf of Random House to create a pop-up series.
Now between 200 and 300 new pop-up books for both children and adults are produced in English each year. The largest collection of pop-up books is the Gustine Courson Weaver Collection at the University of North Texas Library.
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