Ib Penick

Ib Penick (1930–1998), a native of Denmark, was known as "the creative mind behind the resurgence of pop-up children's books in the 1960s and 1970s.^[2] In his career, Penick designed more than 130 children's books, including Star Wars: a Pop-up Book, which sold more than a million copies.^[3] Penick related to one reporter, "...there are only about 100 folds and tricks to [his paper engineering] trade. It's like playing a piano. You have only a certain number of keys, but it's the combinations that make the difference."^[4]

In the 1960s Penick joined Waldo Hunt at Graphics International, a firm that created pop-up books, including a series of titles for Random House and other publishers.^[5] Penick was the "premier paper engineer" for the Random House pop-up titles, with Tor Lokvig as his protege.^[6] According to Gerald Harrison, a former president of the children's books division at Random House, Penick "was really responsible for creating the whole world we lived in. With the advent of the Random House line, a whole industry was created and the very first ones were created by Ib."^[7]

Penick and Hunt later sold Graphics International to Hallmark Cards in 1966.^[8]

The following is a sample of the pop-up books paper engineered by Ib Penick:^[9]

• Penick, Ib; Barlowe, Wayne (1978), Star Wars: A Pop-up Book, Random House, OCLC 16436266
• Penick, Ib; Forte, Joseph (1986), The Story of the Statue of Liberty: with movable illustrations in three dimensions, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, OCLC 13663592
• Penick, Ib; Swan, Curt; Oksner, Bob; Serpe, Jerry (1979), Superman: a pop-up book, Random House, OCLC 6014334
• Penick, Ib; Sondern, Ferd (1974), Who are the people in your neighborhood?, Random House and Children's Television Workshop, OCLC 2294774

Penick held several patents in the area of paper engineering, camera design and packaging, including:

1. A U.S. patent 4784314 A– Decorative paperboard boxes
2. A U.S. patent 4313270 A– Item with pivoting pop-up
3. A U.S. patent 4337589 A– Method of making hinged pop-up items
4. A U.S. patent 4349973 A– Pop-ups and methods of making
5. A U.S. patent 4146983 A– Promotional pop-up and method of making
6. A U.S. patent 5022681 A– Paper pop-up devices and method of making the same
7. A U.S. patent 4192596 A– Camera with improved shutter arrangement
8. A U.S. patent 3650194 A– Disposable Camera
9. A U.S. patent 4057813 A– Pocket sized camera