There was considerable debate in the clubhouse today as to which merit badge category flipbooks would fall into. And despite their typical lack of words they’ve been imperfectly filed them under ‘literacy.’ However there was complete consensus in our fascination with these moving image experiments developed in the pre-motion-picture era. The flipbook was patented under the name ‘kineograph’ by inventor John Barnes Linnet in 1868. The first flipbook utilizing a series of photographic images appeared about 25 years later, developed by German film pioneer, Max Skladanowsky. The French site FlipBook.info has a fairly comprehensive history of flipbooks and an archive of nearly 4,000 examples.

While commonly thought of in association with children’s novelties (Cracker Jack prizes), they’ve been used for a variety of purposes including a long history as promotional tools. Optical Toys offers a nice selection of historical to contemporary flipbooks including reproductions of a couple of early advertising examples including one for Presto! Collars seen below.

One of the largest collections of contemporary kid-friendly flipbooks on the web can be found at Fliptomania. They offer animated and photographic flipbooks in topics ranging from fine art to science to just plain silliness. You can purchase them a la carte or in pre-packaged theme sets of 3, and there are great children’s kits which feature a series of coloring book style images to be assembled into a functioning flipbook. These would make fantastic party favors and the kit could come in handy on a long plane ride.

And now that most everyone has a digital camera that allows you to take short MPEGs there are a handful of online companies that allow you to upload 30 seconds of digital video from which they create a custom flip book! How great would it be to have Jr’s blowing out the candles on his first birthday cake made into a flipbook? Prices start at under $10. See FlipClips and FlipBooker

This post contains essential information towards obtaining your Literacy merit badge. Leave a comment on this post or a question for the Grand Poobah below, or trackback from your own site.