zPop-up books by famous people

There are a lot of pop-up books about famous people - Frank Lloyd Wright, Salvador Dali, the British Royal Family, etc. But the books listed here were actually produced by famous people. I can't say how much hands-on work the famous person did, but they are usually listed as the author or creator.

ANDY WARHOL

There is no doubt the most collectable book I own (and most valuable) is the Andy Warhol Index Book. This particular copy is still in its original plastic wrap, with original price sticker. There is one small tear on the bottom of the wrapping, but otherwise it is 'as-new, unopened'. I bought this from the nephew of Waldo Hunt. Hunt was the head of Intervisual Books, and is widely considered the driving force behind the modern pop-up book world. Waldo Hunt worked with Andy Warhol to produce The Index Book.

So why would I want this book in a collection of pop-up books? It turns out there is a pop-up soup can in the book! And a pop-up airplane, castle, and accordion! So it qualifies as a pop-up book. There is also a playable, flexible 45 rpm record of an unreleased Lou Reed song bound between two pages. However, the most storied thing in the book is a small paper rectangle affixed in the binding with a grid of eight squares on it. If present, it is usually described as 'disolvable paper insert still intact', but usually it is missing. The deal is this - each grid square 'reportedly' has a 'hit' of LSD that is activated when one of the grid squares is cut out and placed on the tongue. Index Books listed for sale rarely still have the paper square, and also rarely have the Lou Reed record still bound in the book. The Index Book also came with a balloon loosely placed between a couple of the pages, and it is almost always lost. This copy of the book was never opened, so everything should still be intact... (picture from Andy Warhol's Index (Book) - Andy Warhol)



ART SPIEGELMAN

Art Spiegelman is the author (and artist) of MAUS - A Survivor's Tale, the only graphic novel ever to win the Pulitzer Prize. MAUS tells the story of his parents in WWII. His parents (and all the Jews) are represented by mice, and the Nazis are represented by cats.

MAUS has also recently garnered fame for being banned by a school board in rural Tennessee, for using objectionable words ('bitch' and 'goddamn'), and for including a small drawing of a nude woman (drawn as a mouse). But of course the real reason it was banned is because it chronicles the holocaust.

He is included here because of his book Open me... I'm a Dog!, a story of a puppy who gets turned into a book by an evil wizard. To help prove that he is a real dog, he wags his tail (in pop-up form). (picture from Open me... I'm a Dog! - Art Spiegelman)




RICKY GERVAIS

I already owned the book entitled Flanimals Pop-up before I recognized that it was created by Ricky Gervais. I had known him from his irreverent stand-up specials on TV, but I actually did not know that he also created and wrote The Office TV series.

Apparently he wrote the original Flanimal series of children's books, which to be honest, I've never heard of. I think they were popular in Britain. But according to the blurb on the back of the book he felt that 'Flanimals lacked a certain poppy-upness'. So he made a pop-up book.

By the way, one of my all-time favorite Netflix series is After Life, written, produced and directed by Ricky Gervais. It is a very dark, small comedy about a man who has lost his wife to breast cancer, and he becomes self-centered and difficult to be around (Gervais plays the troubled man). But I am pretty sure you will be thanking me if you stick to it through all 3 seasons. I really, really liked it... (picture from Flanimals Pop-up - Ricky Gervais)