Animated Advertising – 200 Years of Premiums, Promos, and Pop–ups, from the Collection of Ellen G. K. Rubin

Drawing from Ellen G. K. Rubin’s extensive collection of more than 7,000 pop-up books and related ephemera, Animated Advertising demonstrates how animated and dimensional paper devices have been used throughout US history to promote products, art, entertainment, and ideas. The book displays the creativity of advertisers in food, fashion, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, travel, music, politics, and more.

Rubin’s diverse examples of historical paper pop-ups show how they leaped from the pack of standard marketing materials to catch the eye and inform patrons and clientele about the items being sold. Illustrated with two hundred and fifty colour images, and published to coincide with a Winter 2023 exhibition at the Grolier Club’s New York headquarters, Animated Advertising is a lively look at an underexplored niche in the history of American marketing, graphic design, and paper engineering.