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: