By Paul Carrier
With this year's publication of the Freedom Trail Pop Up Book of Boston, Denise D. Price offers a delightful reminder that books with movable parts, those staples of early childhood, aren't just for kids anymore.
As The Boston Globe noted in a recent article, Price’s book “not only features 16 sites on the trail but is architecturally accurate — down to the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns of Faneuil Hall. The book is for children and adults, history buffs and art enthusiasts, and it pays special attention to the stories behind the five weathervanes atop historic buildings.”
Price, a Cambridge resident who moved to Massachusetts a few years ago, went searching for a pop-up book about Boston as a gift for nieces and nephews after she first walked the Freedom Trail, but without success. So she designed and wrote one (the text is largely based on descriptions provided by the Freedom Trail Foundation), raised money on Kickstarter and hired a printer in Vietnam.
It was a laborious process.
“Before she could even begin the project, Price had to figure out how pop-up books are made,” Publishers Weekly reports. “Next came mastering paper engineering and learning to create digital art. Price then had to find out where pop-ups are printed. She located a handful of companies that can produce 5,000 copies of a pop-up book: two in China and one in Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Price also had to obtain permissions from the Freedom Trail Foundation, which promotes the 16 historic sites covered in the book.”
The final product made its debut in April.
The book opens with a pop-up of the Massachusetts State House. That two-page spread, which includes three paragraphs of text about the building, is deceptive at first, because there's a lot going on here. Close inspection reveals three smaller pages that unfold from the two main pages of the display, featuring pop-ups of the Freedom Trail’s logo, the Frog Pond on Boston Common and Park Street Church. Each is accompanied by explanatory text.
King’s Chapel emerges from the next two pages, with sidebars on two burial grounds, the Benjamin Franklin statue on School Street and the original site of the Boston Latin School.
Other large pop-ups with double-page layouts focus on the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, the Old North Church and the USS Constitution. Smaller pop-ups and other ancillary displays cover the Old Corner Bookstore, the Old South Meeting House, the Boston Massacre, the Paul Revere House, the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground and the Bunker Hill Monument.
One caveat is in order for anyone thinking about buying the Freedom Trail Pop Up Book of Boston sight unseen. Although the book is both sturdy and well-made, it is, by definition, intricate, and therefore somewhat delicate. I wouldn’t recommend it for kids who “play rough,” unless they read it under supervision.
The Freedom Trail Pop Up Book of Boston may appear to be breaking the mold by catering, in part, to grown-ups, but Wikipedia reports that early movable books were designed for adults, not children. And “early” means just that. “The first known movable in a book was created by Benedictine monk Matthew Paris in his Chronica Majora, which covers a period beginning in 1240,” according to Wikipedia.
Movable parts were “almost always used in scholarly works” until the 18th century, according to a history of the genre on libraries.rutgers.edu. That's when they were first applied to “books designed for entertainment, particularly for children.” Nowadays, such “ingenious mechanical devices” surprise and entertain readers of all ages.
If you value the unique and glorious role that Boston played in the history of America, or if you're a fan of books that spring to life when opened, you’re almost sure to enjoy this intricate, handsome and novel work of art, nestled between two covers. For a closer look, click here.
