THE ART OF BABAR: THE WORK OF JEAN AND LAURENT DE BRUNHOFF.

New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989. 191 pp, 12" H. Bright red cloth with blindstamped Babar on front board, white lettering on spine, yellow endpapers. Profusely illustrated with b&w photographs, b&w and colour reproductions. "Babar was created by the painter Jean de Brunhoff, who produced the first seven books of the series between 1931 and 1937, the year of his untimely death. In 1946 his artist son Laurent took up where Jean had left off. He wrote and illustrated his first Babar book when he was twenty-one and has now done thirty Babar books. In bringing Babar back, Laurent was holding on to an enchanted childhood as well as keeping alive the legacy of his beloved father. The elephant actually had been the invention of his mother, Cecile, who thought up the first adventure one evening as a bedtime story for Laurent and his younger brother, Mathieu. In 'The Art of Babar' (the author) has worked with Laurent de Brunhoff to recapture aspects of the artist's childhood in France and the values that he grew up with. He has a lot to say about how both he and his father used watercolor, and the author has explored this technical aspect of their art. The reader is presented with the development from rough sketches to final illustrations; much of this material has never before been reproduced." Book is Near Fine. Dust jacket has light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Very Good+. Illus. by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff..