I found this fascinating artifact in a wonderful article in Public Domain Review about Yaggy’s maps, pop-ups, and 3D diagrams of the Earth’s surface, habitats, and other contents of Geographical Studies … which was not a book, but a box of charts, models, and maps like this one, with its five openable flaps. Turn the metal holder back, and you can learn even more about solar eclipses, say, or meteor showers. It’s partially translucent, so offers a glowing perspective of stars and “The Zodiacal Light” as they appear at night or in space. The central circle is the fifth flap, which can be lifted out to reveal a colorful map of the constellations.
The set was made with classrooms in mind. Charts like this one measure between 2 and 4 feet square, and even though a lot were sold, not many survive because of so many curious little hands rubbing the tops off the Rocky Mountains on the papier-mâché USA map, and twisting back the metal tabs to look at solar eclipse diagrams and the like.
And now, we’ve got web pages… but I think this kind of thing might be better.