Histoire de Babar le petit éléphant
| Description |
This is a rare copy of the first edition of the very first Babar book to be published. Jean de Brunhoff introduced the character in 1931, and Babar enjoyed immediate success. Two years later, the author A.A. Milne produced an English-language version, The Story of Babar, in Britain and the United States. The Babar stories became enormously popular across the world and have been translated into numerous languages. Babar, who likes to wear a fashionable bright green suit, introduces a very French form of Western civilization to the elephants back home in Africa, and they soon all begin to dress in Western attire. The attention to stylish clothing perhaps reflects the fact that the original publisher of the books was Editions du Jardin des Modes, owned by Condé-Nast. The Babar books were the first Condé-Nast publications not specifically about fashion. The children’s author, Maurice Sendak, wrote about de Jean de Brunhoff’s innovative work: 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. |
| Author/Photographer |
Brunhoff, Jean de, 1899-1937 |
| Illustrator |
Brunhoff, Jean de, 1899-1937 |
| Publisher |
Editions du Jardin des Modes, Groupe des Publications Condé Nast |
| Date |
1931 |
| Extent |
47 pages |
| Institution |
Kent State University |
| Repository |
Special Collections and Archives |
| Provenance/Collection |
Babar Collection of John L. Boonshaft |
| Finding aid |
Finding aid for the Babar Collection of John L. Boonshaft |
| Portion Digitized |
Image of collector's box and book on display and open to pages 14-15 |
| Access Rights |
This digital object is owned by Kent State University and may be protected by U.S. Copyright law (Title 17, USC). Please include proper citation and credit for use of this item. Use in publications or productions is prohibited without written permission from Kent State University. Please contact the Department of Special Collections and Archives for more information. |
| Duplication Policy |
http://www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives/duplication-policy |
| Date Copyrighted |
1931 |
| DPLA Rights Statement |
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Format of Original |
book |
Credits
Curated by Kathleen Siebert Medicus with guest contributors