(above) Harold Lentz, creator of many of Blue Ribbon's pop-up books.
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Blue Ribbon Pop-up Books!
"Some of the most popular (and collectable, often fetching over $500) pop-up books are from the 1930 series "Blue Ribbon Books." In the February 1933 edition of Bookbinding Magazine Freeman Lewis of Blue Ribbon Books, Inc. gave an amazingly candid interview about the trials and tribulations of creating the company's pop-up books.
The new "Pop-Ups" issued by Blue Ribbon Books recently are of considerable interest to manufacturers and bookbinders. They represent the first books with three-dimensional illustrations ever made in America and necessitate a return to hand work and slow production, which is unusual in this machine age.
To any one looking at the various old German and English books containing three-dimensional illustrations, it is obvious that one of the explanations of their quality is the fact that the text paper is so thin and flexible that when the book is opened the illustrations will not stand erect unless the reader holds the pages down firmly. In addition to a stiff paper, the use of color also makes necessary a smooth surface. And with the emphasis which buyers place on bulk, a thick paper must be used if the books are to be successfully merchandized.
To overcome these difficulties, an extremely hard bristol board, surfaced on both sides, was tried at first. But this paper was too hard and not smooth enough. Solid soda pulp paper was evolved which had a fairly soft wood pulp core and a calendered soda pulp surface. This paper has been very satisfactory.
The Pop-ups themselves could, of course, not be made from such stiff paper. They were printed separately and die cut.
The expense of the [printing] plates on these books is considerable, and to save as much as possible, all the color work is done in line and Ben Day. [A method of adding a tone to a printed image by imposing a transparent sheet of dots or other patterns on the image at some stage of a photographic reproduction process: Named after the inventor, New York printer, Benjamin Henry Day].
The problem of binding the Pop-ups is a difficult one. There is so much extra paper in the center of the books that it is necessary to insert tabs to the bulk to the shelf back. These tabs are inserted under the pop-up pages during the collating in order to avoid an extra hand operation of sewing. In the 1932 editions four tabs were inserted; but as these have not added enough bulk, the number will be increased.
A certain amount of glue is rubbed between the signatures; and because the paper is so stiff, these signatures crack apart after the book has been used a while. No was evolved for eliminating this trouble until after the books for this fall had been completed, but the problem has now been solved for future editions.
Because the Pop-Ups are made to be opened fully and frequently, it was necessary to have a back strip which would always round. By using a light weight Jonathan board, this cracking is avoided. And to protect this back strip from glue, as well as to give added strength, a Canton flannel is used for super.
The combination of ingenious constructions, attractive art work, and quality printing is largely responsible for the success of the Pop-Ups. For this, too much credit cannot be given to Mr. James H. Dulin, head of the Caslon Press and printer of the books, and to Mr. Harold Lentz, artist and designer of the Pop-Ups. Their cooperation made it possible to save much expense and to produce an article new to American publishing."
It was reported that in 1935 Blue Ribbon pop-up sales had reached three hundred thousand but due to a fickle public (or perhaps high manufacturing costs)by the end of that year Blue Ribbon no longer listed or promoted pop-up books.
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