Playing with the Book: Victorian Movable Picturebooks and the Child Reader w/ Hannah Field (online and in Person – April 15th 2025)

Children don’t just read books—they gnaw at the edges, rip, tear, and colour them in. While reading is often viewed as a disembodied act, Victorian movable picture books reveal a “distinctively embodied reading experience.”

In her 2019 book, Playing with the Book: Victorian Movable Picture Books and the Child Reader, Hannah Field explores how children interacted with a variety of Victorian innovations in juvenile publishing, such as harlequinades, panoramas, pop-up books, dissolving-view books, and the blending of the book and the toy. Through these examples, Field unpacks three interconnected themes: the book as a material object, reading as an embodied practice, and the cultural understanding of childhood in the nineteenth century.

Join us for a conversation with Hannah Field as we delve into the fascinating world of Victorian novelty books and discover how they challenge us to rethink the book, the act of reading, and the child.

Session details

Session Lead: Bradley Tuck

In Person: Southern Belle, 3, Waterloo Street, Hove

The venue is not wheelchair accessible

Click to join On Zoom

Meeting ID: 883 2114 1321

Passcode: 970065

Time: 6:30 pm Doors. Start 7:00 pm-9:30 pm.

Book a free place on Eventbrite.

If for some reason you can’t make it and you already bought a ticket, please release it so others can come to the event. You can also email us at explodingappendix@gmail.com for any inquiries.

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