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Kubasta - 1960's Mecca Pop-up Book - Very Fine - Mint - Artia with original seal!

Kubasta Panascopic pop-up book Mecca


 
Alternative Views:


Kubasta – al-Hajar al-Aswad – also known as Mecca

Illustrated by: Vojtěch Kubašta

Publisher: Artia, circa: 1960's

1 tabletop pop-up display ([4] p.) : col. ill.; 33 x 22 cm. Folio (12 3/4 x 9 inches)

Condition - Mint - unused. Vintagepopupbooks.com acquired this copy directly from Kubasta's estate.
Retains Artia* publisher's seal to lower right board on the cover
It will arrive in archival packaging

See our other books for more rare Kubasta movable titles


Collectors Corner:

About Artia: Artia was a Cold War-era government-run company located in Prague Czechoslovakia. They published primarily children's books from 1952 to 1967.

About the seal:
ARTIA is a trademark of ARTIA, PODNIK ZAHRANICNIHO OBCHODU PRO DOVOZ A VYVOZ KULTURNICH STATKU. Filed in April 15 (1965)

Kubasta designed this book for the Iranian market.

According to a groundbreaking essay published in The Life and Art of Vojtěch Kubašta by Ellen G. K. Rubin, “In 1977, the Artia Foreign Trade Corporation exported nine Kubašta titles in the Farsi language to Iran. Kubašta's panoramic books [were] protected by a Czech patent.42 Using the Panascopic format but without text, and for the first time combining photographs and illustration, Kubašta designed a pop-up book celebrating Mecca, its pilgrims, and surrounding areas.”

Note about the subject of this Kubasta: The Black Stone of Kaaba or Mecca in Arabic, is called Al-hajar Al-aswad. The Black Stone of Mecca, or Kaaba Stone, is a Muslim relic, which according to Islamic tradition dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. It is the eastern cornerstone of the Kaaba, the ancient sacred stone building towards which Muslims pray, in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.The Stone is a dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of millions of pilgrims, that has been broken into many fragments cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Although it has often been described as a meteorite, this theory is still under consideration. The Black Stone is a Muslim object of reverence, which according to Islamic tradition dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.

The cover depicts a man with his hand on the Black Stone. The six views on the back include photographs of the main sites of Haj.
The pop-up shows the haram with pilgrims and the Kaˋba at its centre, surrounded by buildings which according to Qaisra Khan (see references) were removed after the 1960s

References:

Qaisra Khan "Pop-up view of the Masjid al-Haram" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2021. http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php...

Book: Pop-Ups From Prague: A Centennial Celebration of the Graphic Artistry of Vojtěch Kubašta by Ellen G. K. Rubin

Essay:L The Life and Art of Vojtech Kubasta (1914-1992) by Ellen Rubin


All books are returnable within 10 days of receipt if not delighted for any reason.

$1,600.00



Product Code: K-28

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