The Movable Book Society 2025 Conference
September 25 – September 28, 2025
St. Louis, Missouri
Keynote Speaker: Julie Chen, Flying Fish Press
Cracking the Paper Code: Uncovering the Secrets of Meggendorfer’s Movable Mechanisms
In 2024, Julie Chen received two grants from the University of Wisconsin–Madison to advance her research on the movable books of Lothar Meggendorfer. Known for his ingenious use of iron-riveted paper mechanisms, Meggendorfer created intricate, multi-movement animations activated by a single pull tab. His innovative designs brought pages to life, offering readers an engaging and interactive experience.
Chen will share insights from her year-long research project, which involved meticulously documenting original Meggendorfer books and reverse-engineering their mechanisms. She will discuss the challenges and discoveries of this process, including the creation of technical models replicating Meggendorfer’s intricate designs. Additionally, Chen will introduce her upcoming artist’s book project, inspired by this research, offering a contemporary perspective on these historical movable mechanisms.
Register for the Conference Here
Conference Highlights
Attend in person or virtually
Viewing all conference presentations in real time
Presentations featuring historians, paper engineers, conservators, and more
An online portion of the silent auction
Voting for the Meggendorfer Prize for Trade Books
The Book Fair, The Auction, The Meggendorfer Prizes
Many meals provided
View the 2025 Conference Agenda Here
Book Your Hotel Room
Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch
Click here to book your room
Please make your reservations by Saturday, August 23, 2025 to receive your group rate.
Reservations made after this date will be subject to prevailing rates and availability.
Reservations may also be made by calling 1-800-325-0720 and referring to your group number 10108799.
The Book Fair
Reserve a full or half table for book sales or swaps on Saturday, September 27th.
Full table prices are $50.00 for MBS Members and $75.00 for the General Public.
Click here to reserve a table for the Book Fair
Conference Scholarships
A limited number of conference scholarships are available by lottery.
Each scholarship covers the conference fee, one year’s membership, and a $500 stipend to be used for hotel and/or flight. Two scholarships will be reserved exclusively for international attendees, and will feature a travel stipend of $1,000. Recipients will be asked to assist at the conference.
Please email info@movablebooksociety.org for more information. In the email, please briefly describe your connection to MBS and write a paragraph (up to 150 words) detailing how attending this conference would benefit you.
Show-and-Tell
Do you have something unusual that you would like to share at the conference?
Friday night is Show-and-Tell night (location TBD).
Prepare to bring a special book that you have collected or made, and watch for further details.
Awards
- Meggendorfer Prize for Best Paper Engineering – Trade Publication. The Movable Book Society presents the Meggendorfer Prize for Best Paper Engineering for the most outstanding commercially published pop-up or movable book at its biennial conference. The nominated book must have been issued in the two years preceding the conference. The award honors Lothar Meggendorfer (1847-1925), a legendary 19th-century illustrator and movable books paper engineer.
- Meggendorfer Prize for Artist Books. This prize honors the best pop-up and movable artist book created in the past three years. Click here for more information and to download a submission form for the 2025 prize.
- Emerging Paper Engineer Prize. This honor recognizes excellence in paper engineering among undergraduate and/or graduate students worldwide. Entrants must be registered undergraduate or graduate students, or have just completed a course of study in the spring of the conference year. Qualifying projects must include pop-up and/or movable structures and must have been created during a course of college study. Click here for more information and to download a submission form for the 2025 prize.