part two
1934
BABAR TH E E LE PHANT The Babar the Elephant books, written and illustrated by Jean de Brunhoff, and published by Hachette, were an instant success in France; and soon publishers in England and America were eager to get translations onto the market. A.A. Milne, in his introduction to the first UK translation wrote:
Illustrations from The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff, 1934 24
‘Two years ago at a friend’s house I was introduced to Babar and Celeste. They spoke French then and they spoke it with a charming simplicity which saved me from all embarrassment. With a little trouble I managed to get them into my house; and with no trouble at all they settled down at once as part of the family. Since then I have been insisting that my publishers should take out naturalisation papers for them, and let them settle down in everybody else’s family.’ Whether Milne was actually instrumental in persuading Methuen to take up Babar is not recorded, but they did, in fact, obtain the UK rights for the series. They proceeded to look for a printer capable of handling the considerable technical challenges of reproducing the wonderfully vibrant colour images. There were, perhaps, no more than half a dozen British printers at that time able to carry out such an assignment, including the Curwen Press, the Baynard Press and Chromoworks. But it was to Cowells that Methuen turned and Cowells indeed found the
First English edition of The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff, printed by W.S. Cowell Ltd., 1934 25