Karen Reeds <karenmre...@gmail.com> wrote: >Please do say more about evidence for the likely German origins of the >Magazine Cover Box.
As far as I know diagrams for the Magazine Cover Box were first published in 1978 in Vol 13 issue 4 of the Origamian. The diagrams include the information that 'Emily Rosenthal learned this in her German childhood - from whom she does not remember'. The design probably first appeared in 'Das Lustiges Papierfaltbüchlein' by Johanna Huber, which was originally published in Germany in 1927. I say 'probably' because although the design can be found in the English translation, as 'Easy and Fun Paperfolding', published in the 1970s, I think, I have not seen a copy of the original book (and can't find one online). If anyone has an early copy of the original work and can check for me I will be truly grateful. (Just to confuse things slightly, there is a photo in Issue 238 of the Buenos Aires edition of the magazine 'Caras y Caretas', published on 25th March 1905, which shows an open box of otherwise unknown design. It is just possible that this is the Magazine Cover Box, although the reproduction is too grainy to allow for certainty.) >How can independent invention be ruled out! It never can be. It's a bit like trying to prove a negative. All we can do is look at the positive evidence. And, as far as I know, there is no sufficiently early evidence of the existence of this design from Japan to substantiate the idea that it is originally a Japanese design. Dave
