The Letter A · ABC de Babar · Jean de Brunhoff Babar Print

The Letter A - a page from Jean de Brunhoff's ABC de Babar, 1934.

Printed whole as the double-page spread it was drawn for, capitals, script and Célesteville scene together.

ABC de Babar, published in 1934, gives each letter a spread of its own: a busy scene in Célesteville, the elephants' city, in which every object whose name begins with that letter is waiting to be found. The letters are drawn in a tall classic roman and an elegant script, so each page reads as a picture and a piece of typography at once.

Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937) was a Paris painter who invented Babar from a bedtime story his wife Cécile told their two young sons. He painted the first book, Histoire de Babar, in 1931, and six more followed, the last two published after his death at 37. Printed large, in the generous album format he chose, with his own handwriting in place of type, they became some of the best-loved picture books ever made.

Prepared from a high-resolution scan of the original, keeping the soft watercolour washes and the texture of the paper. Printed on archival cotton-fibre paper when your order is placed, and mounted with a border of equal width on every side so the plate sits centred in the frame.