The Inventor of Pop Up Books and Cards

I bet you didn't know the father of pop-ups was named Lothar Meggendorfer and he was a German illustrator and cartoonist. 

He was a paper engineer that wrote movable paper books to entertain children. 

Reference: By Nicolet1327 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105757151

He wrote many clever paper action books.

Reference: By Lothar Meggendorfer - Cynthia Burlingham, Picturing childhood: Illustrated Children's Books from University of California Collections, 1550-1990, 1997, p. 34., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16453105

Meggendorfer was also a student of Munich based puppeteer Josef Schmid. It is thought that his teachings greatly affected his movable actions of the figures in his books. He also worked as an illustrator for a weekly comic paper.

Meggendorfer's illustrated movable books were sold in many other countries including the United States, Belgium, England and Russia. He illustrated and published over 200 movable books.

So the next time you see a clever pop-up book or card, you can thank Lothar Meggendorfer, the father of pop-ups. Pretty clever, huh?

Bet you didn't know that!