Endless Machine was illustrated and designed by Julie Chen, with paper engineering by Able Broyles and Julie Chen. The movable mechanisms were inspired by the work of Lothar Meggendorfer, the late nineteenth-century German illustrator renowned for his innovative movable books. As a tribute to Meggendorfer, rivets were incorporated into the mechanism designs, using plastic filament in place of the iron wire found in his books.

After a year of intensive research into Meggendorfer's work, I became increasingly fascinated by the mechanisms themselves, beyond the way they animated the illustrations. Endless Machine invites readers to consider how meaning is constructed before engaging with the images themselves. By revealing the physical process set in motion with each pull of a tab before an image appears, the book asks readers to consider how mechanisms can give rise to meaning. The written and visual contents bring together ideas about the chaos of the current social and political landscape.

In accordion format, the book comprises a series of shallow trays joined by a Japanese screen hinge structure. It was letterpress printed using pressure printing and photopolymer plates and is presented in a clamshell box.

Dimensions: 12 ¾ inches by 18 ½ inches x 3 ¾ inches when closed, opening to a full width of 64 inches

Dimensions of Box: 13 ½ inches by 19 3/8 inches by 4 3/8 inches

Edition size: 25 copies

Year of Publication: 2026

Price: $4800.00