BABAR'S FRIEND ZEPHIR

London: Methuen & Co., Ltd, 1937. First English edition. Very good.. First UK edition of the fifth book in the Babar series, devoted to the adventures of Zephir the monkey when he goes home for summer vacation. The Babar series has delighted generations of young children around the world. The de Brunhoffs' simple and stylish art is widely praised for being "comprehensible and entertaining even if one didn't know the language" (Bader, 547). The Babar books set the tempo for all picture books that followed: their "large format, fine litho-printing and hand-written text" fueled the "visual triumph" (Whalley and Chester, 189) of the picture book in the 1930s.
While most of the Babar series follows the titular elephant and his family, ZEPHIR'S HOLIDAYS focuses on his mischievous monkey companion. After a reunion with his family in Monkeyville, Zephir sets out on a quest to save the monkey princess from an island full of monsters (with the help of his new mermaid friend). A nice copy.. 14.25'' x 10''. Original yellow cloth-backed color pictorial boards. Color pictorial endpapers of elephants against a yellow background. Illustrated in color. [40] pages. Faint owner name in yellow colored pencil to verso of rear flyleaf, a bit of coloring in the same pencil to page [39]. Binding with some light edgewear and rubbing. Leaves with occasional faint foxing to margins. Colors bright.