A flip book or 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 pictures appear to animate 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.
Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners.
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; this is also known as the phi phenomenon.
Rather than “reading” left to right, a viewer simply stares at the same location of the pictures 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.
I have always felt like there is something so very charming about flip books. I remember as a kid, every now and then I would get one as the prize inside of a Cracker Jacks box.
Seeing this clip from “Antiques Roadshow,” was quite exciting.
The owner of this collection — which is appraised at $2,000 —has all sorts of old flip books, including one about baseball, one about Disney, and one about Antiques Roadshow itself that he actually created.
What do you think of the flip books that appeared in the video? Did you have a favorite one as a child? Use the comments section below and share your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you!
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