Alphabet Soup Nr.2

Celestino Piatti's Animal ABC, 1965

What better way to learn the alphabet than looking at pictures of animals?

Enjoy this new hodgepodge of different styles and techniques.

And for the previous collection, click here. 

John Burningham's ABC, 1980

Andrew Zuckerman, Creature ABC

Sébastien G. Orsini, Dans le mystère des animaux sauvages

 

Mary Angel, An animated alphabet

Yusuke Yonezu

Jurg Klabes, ABC mit Tieren, 1958, via Curio Books

C.B. Falls, The Book of ABCs, 1923

Brian Wildsmith's ABC, 1962

Erica Harris

Gwenola Carrère, ABC des petites annonces

Françoise Seignobosc, The gay ABC, 1930, via Curio Books

Anushka Ravishankar and Christiane Pieper, Alphabets are Amazing Animals

Jean de la Fontinelle, Alphabet, 1940s, thanks to Words and Eggs

 Julie Flett, Owls see clearly at night, a Michif alphabet

 Lois Lenski, My own ABC book, thanks to Q is for Quilter

Bittersugar Print, letterpress alphabet

Brian Wildsmith, From A to Z Teaching Cards, 1974, thanks to Jill Casey

 Seymour Chwast, Still Another Alphabet Book, 1969

Alice and Martin Provensen, A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius, 1978

Anne Rockwell, Albert B. Cub and Zebra, 1977

Walter Crane, The Noah's Ark Alphabet, 1871-72

Fritz Eichenberg, Ape in a cape, 1953, thanks to The Art of Children's Picture Books

David Frampton, My Beastie Book of ABC, 2002, thanks to Black and White

Eileen Mayo, Nature's ABC, 1944

Jean de Brunhoff, ABC of Babar, 1936

Franco Matticchio

Sunday Safari - Couch Surfing

 Tom Vroman, Alexander, 1964, thanks to art.crazed

Susann Stoebe

BM Mikhailov, illustration from Reluctant film stars, 1987

from polny_shkaf's amazing vintage children's book collection

 Morris Hirshfield, Angora cat, 1937, thanks to Arthur van Kruining

 Clement Hurd, Little Dog, Dreaming, 1967, thanks to my vintage book collection

Natsuo Ikegami

Mark Ulriksen

Juliane Carole Wenzl

Darla Jackson, They were plotting...

Sweet Mess, Nest Down 

Amber Alexander, Byron

Silvia Bautista, Zorro

Domenico Gnoli

WIldLifePrints, Squirreled Away

Steinlen's Cats

Most of my readers are likely already familiar with the Art Nouveau poster art 

of Théophile Alexandre Steinlen. In particular, the above ad for the Cabaret 

Le Chat Noir has become one of the most ubiquitous icons of the Belle Époque.

 

Together with his daughter Colette, cats were Steinlen's favorite models.

He clearly observed and studied them with an inextinguishable passion, 

both at rest and in action.

Steinlen's Paris home became known as "Cat's Corner". His love of felines found expression

 not only in numerous commercial posters, but in many other artistic media including 

sculpture, painting, drawing, wall painting, editorial illustration and cartooning.

 In 1898 Steinlen published the wonderful Des Chats, Images sans paroles, a large folio of 26 plates

featuring humorous cartoon sequences of playful cats getting into all sorts of trouble.

The drawings had originally been published in the newspaper Le Chat Noir. 

According to this article, they possibly show the first use of the blurring of limbs 

to portray motion in visual art, years ahead of Balla and Duchamp.

I would love to be able to see the rest of the plates...

Unfortunately, surviving copies of Des Chats are valued at over $1000!

Does anyone know if a reprint is available?