The 1816 Flap Book That Turned Adam into a Mermaid
Metamorphosis: Transformations in the Early Modern Flap Book (19th Century)
In 1816, a children's book called Metamorphosis used paper flaps to transform Adam into Eve, a mermaid, and a lion into a griffin. Adapted from a 1650 pamphlet, it taught literacy and mortality while letting kids manipulate the story. Its popularity sparked amateur editions and translations, prefiguring educational video games.
That we may not mislead our little readers, it is desired they would understand the Mermaid and Griffin to be only creatures of fable, that never did exist. And although Death is represented in the form of a human skeleton, yet this is only an emblem; for Death is not a being but a state.