The Babar Collection

Born in Paris, Jean de Brunhoff was the fourth and last child of a successful publisher. His wife Cecile, whom he married in 1924, was a successful pianist, and also contributed to her husband's success by coming up with the original idea for Babar. The couple had three sons and Babar first appeared as an unnamed baby elephant in a bedtime story Cecile to told them when they were young children. The next day the boys retold the story to their father, and the expanded and developed result was The Story of Babar (1931).


De Brunhoff produced a total of seven Babar books before his death at the age of 98. Millions of Babar books have been sold all around the world.