Ingri Mortenson and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire met at art school in Munich in 1921. Edgar's father was a noted Italian portrait painter, his mother a Parisian. Ingri, the youngest of five children, traced her lineage back to the Viking kings.

The couple married in Norway, then moved to Paris. As Bohemian artists, they often talked about emigrating to America. "The enormous continent with all its possibilities and grandeur caught our imagination," Edgar later recalled.

A small payment from a bus accident provided the means. Edgar sailed alone to New York where he earned enough by illustrating books to buy passage for his wife. Once there, Ingri painted portraits and hosted modest dinner parties. The head librarian of the New York Public Library's juvenile department attended one of those. Why, she asked, didn't they create picture books for children?

The d'Aulaires published their first children's book in 1931. Next came three books steeped in the Scandinavian folklore of Ingri's childhood. Then the couple turned their talents to the history of their new country. The result was a series of beautifully illustrated books about American heroes, one of which, Abraham Lincoln, won the d'Aulaires the American Library Association's Caldecott Medal. Finally they turned to the realm of myths.

The d'Aulaires worked as a team on both art and text throughout their joint career. Originally, they used stone lithography for their illustrations. A single four-color illustration required four slabs of Bavarian limestone that weighed up to two hundred pounds apiece. The technique gave their illustrations an uncanny hand-drawn vibrancy. When, in the early 1960s, this process became too expensive, the d'Aulaires switched to acetate sheets which closely approximated the texture of lithographic stone.

In their nearly five-decade career, the d'Aulaires received high critical acclaim for their distinguished contributions to children's literature. They were working on a new book when Ingri died in 1980 at the age of seventy-five. Edgar continued working until he died in 1985 at the age of eighty-six. »

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths

By Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
Preface by Michael Chabon

The Caldecott medal-winning d'Aulaires once again captivate their young audience with this beautifully illustrated introduction to Norse legends, telling stories of Odin the All-father, Thor the Thunder-god and the theft of his hammer, Loki the mischievous god of the Jotun Race, and Ragnarokk, the destiny of the gods. Children meet Bragi, the god of poetry, and the famous Valkyrie maidens, among other gods, goddesses, heroes, and giants. Illustrations throughout depict the wondrous other world of Norse folklore and its fantastical Northern landscape.

Reviews

Out of print for many years, 'Norse Gods and Giants' has been very handsomely reissued by The New York Review Children's Collection and retitled 'D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths'. Featuring a sturdy sewn binding, the book arguably represents the pinnacle of the d'Aulaires' achievement as storytellers and artists.
— The New York Times Book Review

[These] works, especially the books of Norse and Greek myths, were and remain crucial to me, and now to my own children. The interest in mythology that was kindled by those two books has endured throughout my life, and has directly influenced my own writing in countless ways...The Norse book was always my favorite, though. I must have read it a dozen times at least by the time I was nine or ten. I have long been horrified and dismayed to see it go out of print...
— Michael Chabon

Also see:

The Bog People By P.V. Glob Introduction by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber Translated from the Danish by Rupert Bruce-Mitford Conceived as a kind of a detective story, this classic of archaeological history—out of print for over thirty years—is a fascinating account of the religion, culture, and daily life of the Iron Age in Europe.

D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls By Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls, the spectacularly illustrated and delightfully entertaining companion volume to the much-acclaimed D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths.

D'Aulaires' Book of Animals Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire This remarkably beautiful volume unfolds into an 8-foot long two-sided panoramic work of art on which the animals of the world are rendered in vibrant color and the moonlit shades of night.

The Two Cars Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire On a moonlight night an old jalopy and a shiny new sports car race through the streets to find out who is the fastest and best. The d'Aulaires, whose books of Greek and Norse myths have enchanted older children for generations, present younger children with a modern take on the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

The Terrible Troll-Bird Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire One summer's eve Ola, Lina, Sina, and Trina leave their village to gather firewood in the forest, when they're surprised by the hideous call of the terrible troll-bird, a giant rooster who pops up out of the treetops and swoops down to devour their beloved horse Blakken. Little does the terrible troll-bird know that he has finally met his match: his terrible days of terrorizing are over.

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