"The next towering highlight (in my opinion) is a Czech architect and graphic artist Vojtech Kubasta. He was discovered in the late 1950s and published in England by Bancroft & Co/Westminster Books for the Prague publisher Artia. The first books were fairytales produced quite cheaply and in enormous numbers and in 37 foreign languages. They were highly imaginative with smooth action and additional mechanics. They open sideways and the colouring reminds of folk-art. There were 70 pop-up titles when he died in 1992 and all created and designed by himself. The stand-outs are the 'Panascopic Model Books'. Some titles are 'How Columbus discovered America', 'An American Indian Camp', 'Circus life' among many others.
During the 1980s and 90s there was a new flowering of the genre. In contrast to the earlier books there is a close co-operation between the original artist and author with designers and paper-engineers, printers and assemblers. With that in mind it is surprising that they can still be sold at a reasonable price.
My personal favourites? All the titles produced by Robert Sabuda, Chuck Murphy, Ron van der Meer & Jan Pienkowski.
Jacoba Filbry, January 2005."
