Le Chateau de Babar.

BRUNHOFF, Jean de; [Maurice Sendak].

$8,800.00

Item Number: 147137

Paris: Hachette, 1961.

First edition of this winsome children’s story in the original French, from the library of Maurice Sendak. Folio, original pictorial boards, pictorial endpapers, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “A Maurice Sendak amicoleures Laurent de Brunhoff,” with a drawing of one of Babar’s children peeking out from behind a gardener elephant. Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, is often hailed as “the Picasso of children’s books.” He has produced more than 85 books which have populated children’s imaginations for years. For his contributions to children’s literature, Sendak received the third biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration in 1970, one of two inaugural Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards in 2003, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the professional children’s librarians in 1983. In very good condition. An exceptional association.

Jean de Brunhoff wrote The Story of Babar based on a story his wife created for their children. The book enjoyed immediate success upon publication and de Brunhoff went on to publish six more stories in the series before his death in 1937. In Le Chateau de Babar, King and Queen of the Elephant Kingdom, Babar and Celeste, move to Bonnetrompe Castle and have a house-warming party.