Histoire de Babar le petit elephant. [The Story of Babar the Little Elephant].

BRUNHOFF, Jean de; [Maurice Sendak].

$2,000.00

Item Number: 147153

Paris: Editions du Jardin des Modes, 1931.

First edition of the first book in de Brunhoff’s Babar the Elephant series in the original French; from the library of Maurice Sendak, although not marked. Folio, original half cloth over pictorial boards, pictorial endpapers, illustrated. In good condition with rubbing to the boards and light toning throughout. 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. An exceptional association linking these two giants of children’s literature.

Based on a story de Brunhoff's wife created for their children, The Story of Babar was born. It is the tale of a young elephant who escapes a hunter in his native jungle and comes to appreciate the civilization and fine things of the big city. He later returns to the jungle where he is crowned King of the Elephant Kingdom for the wisdom and civility he has gained in his travels. 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. His son, Laurent de Brunhoff, carried on the series and it was made into an animated television series in Canada which ran a total of 65 episodes between 1889 and 1991. "Like an extravagant piece of poetry, the interplay between few words and many pictures, commonly called the picture book, is a difficult, exquisite, and most easily collapsible form that few have mastered....Jean de Brunhoff was a master of this form. Between 1931 and 1937 he completed a body of work that forever changed the face of the illustrated book" (Maurice Sendak).