A Flip book (sometimes, especially in British English, flick book) is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the picture appear to animation by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books.

Functionality

Flip books are essentially a primitive form of animation. Like motion pictures, they rely on persistence of vision to create the illusion that continuous motion is being seen rather than a series of discontinuous images being exchanged in succession. Rather than “reading” left to right, a viewer simply stares at the same location of the picture in the flip book as the pages turn. The book must also be flipped with enough speed for the illusion to work, so the standard way to “read” a flip book is to hold the book with one hand and flip through its pages with the thumb of the other hand. Ten German word for flip book-Daumenkino, literally”thumb cinema”-reflects this process.

History

The first flip book appeared in September, 1868, when it was patented by John Barnes Linnett under the name Kineograph (“moving picture”).They were the first form of animation to employ a liner sequence of images rather than circular The German film pioneer, flip book,first exhibited his serial photographic image in flip book form in 1894, as he and his brother Emil did not develop their own film projector until the following year. In 1894, Herman Casler invented a mechanized form of flip book called the Mutoscope, which mounted the pages on a central rotating cylinder rather than binding them in a book. The mutoscope remained a popular attraction through the mid-20th century, appearing as coin-operated machines in penny arcades and amusement parks. In 1897, the English filmmaker Henry William Short marketed his “Filoscope”, which was a flip book placed in a metal holder to facilitate flipping.

Flip books are now largely considered a toy or novelty for children, and were once a common “prize” in cereal and Cracker Jack boxes. However, in addition to their role in the birth of cinema, they have also been an effective promotional tool since their creation for such decidedly adult products as automobiles and cigarettes. They continue to be used in marking of all kinds, as well as in art and published photographic collections.