Babar's Travels

Jean de Brunhoff's Babar books began as a bedtime story invented by his wife, Cécile, for their two children. The boys liked the story so much that their father, an artist, decided to write it down and illustrate it for them. Originally the title page of the first book, The Story of Babar, was going to read 'told by Jean and Cécile de Brunhoff', but apparently Cécile considered her part in the book's creation too unimportant and had her name removed. The Travels of Babar is the second book in the series. First published in French in 1932, it appeared in the United States in English in 1934 and the following year in the United Kingdom. We have a copy of the first UK edition in our rare book room at the moment.
If you are familiar with the Babar books you will know that de Brunhoff wasn't impervious to the worst ideas of his time, and some of the depictions of people of colour in the books, including this one, are racist. If you have concerns and would like to see more pictures of the book's illustrations please let us know.