Mary Natalie reading a story about an insomniac bear who bears (heh heh) an uncanny resemblance to her dad.
Mary Natalie loves her flap books so much that we now have an assortment of them. My personal favorite is probably Spot, although that was before I realized what a scandalous history flap books have, courtesy of Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura. To my great surprise, flap books were first conceived not as innocent children’s companions, but as titillating mementos of tourists’ good times in what can only be described as Renaissance Europe’s own Las Vegas: 16th century Venice.
What Happened In Venice…
Sixteenth-century Venice was a cosmopolitan, wealthy city, known for its diversity, romance, and relaxed mores. As a republican port city, it was tolerant of all sorts of people and all sorts of behavior in ways that other European cities were not. All this made the city a popular tourist destination, as demonstrated by a new exhibition at the New York Public Library, Love in Venice, which includes two flap books from the late 16th century that depict a lascivious kind of love.
The books are attributed to Donato Bertelli, a printmaker and bookseller. What is clear is that the book is connected to a family of very savvy book publishers who understood how to take advantage of people coming to Venice for tourism and people curious about what they might see there and experience there.
Flap Books: A Sixteenth-century Fun Innovation
In the 16th century, flap books were a fun innovation in publishing, used for purposes both serious and satirical. One of the most studied types of flap book displayed the anatomy of the human body: you could dissect a person by paging through the flaps. Publishers also would use layers of paper to create volvelles, wheels made of paper that might be used to calculate the movement of the sun or moon.
But there were also some cheekier uses of the flaps. During the Counterreformation, for instance, one flap book let the reader lift up the robes of Martin Luther and peek underneath.
Another image in the exhibition plays on the famous trope of a woman and her not-very-good chaperone:
A woman and her chaperone. DONATO BERTELLI/NYPL via Atlas Obscura
I know. It’s all meant to be playful and mischievous and point to why Venice was perceived as Europe’s playground. But I’ll never be able to look at Spot in quite the same way again…
Read the original post on Atlas Obscura.
Sarah Laskow is a writer, reporter, and editor, based in New York City. On Twitter and Instagram, she’s @slaskow.
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You burst my bubble with this one, Nicholas. I always thought some ingenious parent or teacher dreamed these up to entertain and educate.
Lol – I’m so sorry 😀
Not sure what to say to this, lol.
Sorry, didn’t mean to scandalize you 😀
Lol, no. Just didn’t understand why they’d be so popular. Guess you had to be in that moment.
😀
Venice is such an intriguing place! I’ve been there and it’s beautiful, but it’s fun to imagine it hundreds of years ago, steeped in scandal, nepotism, and what seems like endless costume balls. Probably very dangerous, but exciting.
Sounds like Vegas to me!
Nice to always be learning at my age. I had no idea of the ‘saucy’ origins of flap-books. Until now!
Best wishes, Pete.
We aim to please the older generations 😀
Ha ha. Isn’t that great. I blushed at the exposed knickers. Hee hee. The photo of Mary Natalie is adorable, Nicholas. She’s already an avid reader!
Oh, she’s quite the bookworm. Literally; she will happily munch the pages of any book she can get on her little fingers.
Ha ha ha. Such an adorable time of life, and for another ten years or so, it only gets funnier .
I’m guessing it then gets scarier? Cause I’m already scared out of my pants half the time.
The teenage years are tough, but you’ll all do fine. Just keep a sense of humor 😀
And a pair of earplugs?
And now, I won’t be able to look at Spot the same either! lol
Lol – my work here is done, then 😀
Interesting! Did not know this history! Remember flap books for my kids. ?Christine
You’re excused if you’ve forgotten what it’s like to have to hover over a book-strewn floor in order to leave a room.
We need more flap books. ???
Lol 😀
Why does this not surprise me? Wonder how many thinks that we see as ‘kids only’ started as something for adults.
Certainly explains edible body paint.
Now if only they made edible glue. Seems rather pointless though.
I’m sure Mary Natalie would disagree.
Ah, kids and yummy glue. Although my son skipped that. Guess the picky eater thing caused that. Was hard enough to get real food into him.
Sounds familiar. The wee one is sustained on avocado and yogurt. And milk. Gallons and gallons of milk.