Kubasta, Vojtech. How Columbus Discovered America. London: Westminster Books / Bancroft & Co., 1960. First English edition. Large tri-fold Panascopic pop-up book. 8 pages of text with color in-text illustrations, followed by a double-page color pop-up. Illustrated boards with cloth hinges, original publisher’s printed plastic bag with hang tag and promotional insert. Dimensions: 13 × 9 inches (33 × 23 cm); pop-up expands to approximately 39 × 27 × 27 cm.
Condition: Fine. Mint condition, removed only for photographs. Pop-up is flawless. Original packaging (plastic bag) remains intact, with top slit open for access. Includes original advertising insert listing 12 titles in Bancroft's Panascopic Model Books series, and original hang tag. A superb example of Kubasta’s tri-fold design.
Quarto. The covers open to reveal the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria arriving at the shores of the New World. The double-page spread showcases a vibrant, full-color scene of the three ships with rigged thread masts arriving with crew and cargo. Bound in pictorial boards, with cloth spine and a movable rotating ship’s wheel embedded in the upper panel, which shows a map of the world. An exceptional example of Kubasta’s mastery in visual storytelling and structural book design.
First English edition. In 1960, Bancroft began packaging 12 of Kubasta's large tri-fold pop-up books as the "Panascopic Model Books" series. Each title featured 8 illustrated story pages and an elaborate panoramic pop-up scene. As noted in the Grolier Club’s One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature (entry 93), Bancroft was the first Western publisher to market Kubasta’s books, which would eventually be translated into 37 languages.
Collector's Corner:
Advertising insert from Bancroft’s 1960 Panascopic Model Book series included the following titles:
Circus Life (305)
In the Jungle (303)
An American Indian Camp (308)
On the Farm (302)
Ricky the Rabbit (304)
Christopher Columbus (302)
A Christmas Crib (306)
Father Christmas (307)
Prelude to Christmas (309)
Noah’s Ark (310)
Marco Polo (311)
The Castle Tournament (312)