BRUNHOFF, Jean de

“After Babar's mother was killed by the hunter, he went to the big city.”

Parisian author and illustrator Jean de Brunhoff is best known for his oversize books about Babar the Elephant. The books were written and first published in France, beginning with Histoire de Babar in 1931.

Babar started out as bedtime story invented by Brunhoff's wife Cecile to amuse their sick children, Laurent and Mathieu.

The elephant's popularity spread and the books were translated into English, retaining the same size and impressive format as their French counterparts. The wit and appeal of the large drawings lends much to the enduring success of these delightful books. 

Jean de Brunhoff died of tuberculosis at the age of 37 and the series of books was continued by his son, Laurent. 

 See below for our stock of first edition Babar books.