Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Miroslav Sasek

As a result of my baby boy's appetite for destruction when it comes to literature, I often buy secondhand so that all my boys can enjoy being surrounded by books and explore them without me stressing about the cost. I also just love vintage books so it's win-win really.

I do however also love brand new books, the crispness of the paper and the enjoyment of browsing in a bookshop. Any really beautiful books received as gifts or with sentimental value are kept up high and just for story time. On a recent trip to Borders I came across a collection that would definitely fall in the latter category.

Miroslav Sasek was a Czech artist, illustrator and author of the This is series of children's books, the first being "This is Paris" published in 1958. If you get a chance to check out these beautifully illustrated books please do! They have been reissued and are beyond gorgeous! The illustrations are so vintage and stylish and of their era. I would love to buy every one of them but at $30 each may have to limit them to a few birthdays, so if I had to narrow it down to my top 5 I would pick:





There are so many more in this series, if you're interested click here for more details.

6 comments:

Engracia said...

Oooooh how I love these books. I have Paris, London and New York and will add Australia as soon as it is out. Just a little secret though, they are for me not the boys. They are too amazing for children.

Missa said...

Love this style of illustration. Just today I checked this book out at the library for Clover. It's a newer book but it uses a revival of that illustration style.

Missa said...

Oh wonderful, I hope you are able to find a copy!

home girl said...

will defo check these out - am a big fan of such illustration. certainly couldn't trust my 2.5 yr old with such treasures either.

Mushee said...

I love those illustrations, gorgeous! I like the idea of there being 'special' books reserved for bedtime too. They'll always remember them.

Sonya --Dime Store Thrift said...

OH!MY!GOODNESS! This is just too weird, isn't it?! The copy I picked up is a bit tattered, but seriously beautiful.