Sunday Safari - All the Pretty Horses

Romuald Socha, 1974

Waldemar Swierzy, 1969

Eileen Mayo, The children's circus book, thanks to The Visual Telling of Stories 

Witold Janowski

Erté

Brian Wildsmith, illustration from Circus, thanks to Tiny Tim

Art Seiden, Circus Animals, 1958

Vladimir Lebedev

Celestino Piatti, The Nok family circus, thanks to Vintage kids' Books My Kid Loves

Kira Kotliar

Otto Dix, Kinderalbum

Tadeusz Jodlowski

Marek Mosinski, 1968

Jan Mloddozeniec 

Herbert Leupin

Lesley Barnes


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Circus Classics

Ant. L. de Rop, De Circus, 1890, thanks to BibliOdyssey

The circus is one of the great traditional subjects of children's literature and illustration,
 and this small gallery travels through different periods, countries and authors.

If you want to suggest any vintage titles that you know and appreciate for 
next year's edition you'll be most welcome!

 Benjamin Rabier, Het Circus Henri Bombari, 1912, thanks to Jan Willemsen

L.Ignatiev, Circus, 1930, thanks to Ribambelles et Ribambins and HannaRivka

Vladimir Lebedev, Circus (Dutch edition), 1931

John Dukes McKee, The Big Show, 1932, thanks to Retrofan

André Jourcin, Le Cirque Papyrus, 1947, thanks to Agence Eureka

Fini, The seven little elephants, 1947, thanks to Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

Maud and Miska Petersham, The Circus Baby, 1950

Alice and Martin Provensesn, The Golden Circus, 1950

thanks to Golden Gems

Patric Hudson, Circus Alphabet, 1954, thanks to julialbailey

Kurt Wiese, Pierre of the Big Top, 1956

Leonard Weisgard, Circus Animals, 1958

John E. Johnson, How To Scare a Lion, 1965

Hilary Knight, The Circus is coming, 1978

Bill Peet, Randy's Dandy Lions, 1979

Gianni Peg, Alex il Piccolo Fantastico Giocoliere, 1981

The Magic Ring

Pavel Fuksa aka jergot+gotroch


Christmas is in the air, time to continue traditions with 
Animalarium's 3rd Annual Circus Extravaganza

Hiroshige III, Big French circus on the grounds of Shokonsha shrine, 1871 

Seymour Chwast

Hans Erni, 1965, thanks to Sandi Vincent

Mai Miturich, The Rainbow Book, 1974, thanks to art.crazed

Peter Spier, 1992

Rafal Oblinski, 1980

Ana Juan

Sara Fanelli

Geraldine Alibeu

Violeta Lopiz

Eric Battut

Ian Falconer, Olivia saves the Circus

Sarah Young

Sacha Poliakova

By the way, while I love illustrated circus animals, 

I was very happy when these news came out!

If you are in the mood for more circus antics, please take a look at these previous posts:

The Circus is in Town, The Circus is Back in Town and Pink Elephants on Parade

It's Book Time!

Fuel your mind poster by Shaun Tan

The Bologna Children's Book Fair started today, and tomorrow Seba and I 

are going for our annual pilgrimage, like every Spring for the past 14 years. 

The experience is always interesting, often exciting, generally exhausting. This time 

I am particularly looking forward to it, since we have some new important projects 

to promote and discuss. Say a little prayer for us and enjoy this reading rainbow!

Sneak peak illustration from It's a book by Lane Smith

Illustration from the lovely Roland by André Francois, 1958,

thanks to Le figure dei libri

Galassia Gutenberg poster by Gianluigi Toccafondo

Illustration by Chiho Makino

Illustration by Yolanda Mosquera

Illustration by Henri Galeron for Gallimard Jeunesse

Jungle library, thanks to the ever fascinating Franco Matticchio

Cover of Why you should read Kafka before you waste your life by James Hawes.

Lettering and illustration by Steve Snider, thanks to Rough Front

Vintage reading poster, thanks to delicious industries and doe-c-doe

Bookmark by Lesley Barnes, thanks to the always wonderful Aqua-Velvet