Hallmark was founded in Kansas City MO in 1910 by 18-year-old Joyce Clyde who started out selling postcards. His brother would soon join him and the early years were spent innovating and marketing beautiful greeting cards. In 1951 they began sponsoring Television shows.The company name was officially changed from Hall Brothers to Hallmark Cards, Inc. in 1954.
In 1969, Hallmark Cards bought Graphics International from Waldo Hunt (1920-2009). Mr. Hunt is widely credited credit for the revival of pop-up and movable books. With Hunts help, Hallmark began producing pop-up books. (Hunt stayed with the firm when it relocated to Kansas City. He left in 1974 to form his next company, Intervisual Communications.)
Hallmark published more than seventy pop-up book titles from the mid-1960s to 1980.
According to the Bowdoin Library, A boxed set entitled "The Collection of Hallmark Animal Pop-Up-Books" (Kansas City: Hallmark Cards, 1966) were the first pop-up books that Hallmark ever produced. (available on this website)
4 books were included:
The Backyard Zoo; The Kingdom of the Sea; The Terrible Lizards; The World of Horses.
Each small 10 x 14.5 cm. book had 36 pages and 3 pop-ups.
They were written by written by Mary Loberg and David L. Harrison and illustrated by different artists.
They were printed in Japan. Unfortunately, we have not been able to determine who the paper engineer was.
International editions (early years):
It is interesting to note that most of the pop-up books by Waldo Hunt for Hallmark and Random House
also had French editions. They were published by Rouge et Or /Paris.
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