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. 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. 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."

Biography

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. Penick was the "premier paper engineer" for the Random House pop-up titles, and Tor Lokvig was his protege. 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."

Penick and Hunt later sold Graphics International to Hallmark Cards in 1966.

Selected Bibliography

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

Patents

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

1. A U.S. Patent 4,784,314 A– Decorative paperboard boxes
2. A U.S. Patent 4,313,270 A– Item with pivoting pop-up
3. A U.S. Patent 4,337,589 A– Method of making hinged pop-up items
4. A U.S. Patent 4,349,973 A– Pop-ups and methods of making
5. A U.S. Patent 4,146,983 A– Promotional pop-up and method of making
6. A U.S. Patent 5,022,681 A– Paper pop-up devices and method of making the same
7. A U.S. Patent 4,192,596 A– Camera with improved shutter arrangement
8. A U.S. Patent 3,650,194 A– Disposable Camera
9. A U.S. Patent 4,057,813 A– Pocket sized camera