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 Animals

Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire

The celebrated husband-and-wife team of Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire prepared this exceptionally beautiful volume for their own son Ola, and it is as fresh and enchanting today as it was when it first sprung from their imaginations.

D'Aulaires' Book of Animals introduces young children to the creatures of every continent. Here more than fifty animals lithographed in full color form one side of a book that can be read page by page or unfolded to form a continuous panorama; the flipside of the panorama reveals the nighttime world of the animals in the very same settings. Each tableau presents the subjects in their native environments—from the tropical to the arctic—and is rendered with the exemplary richness of color and delightful understanding of the children's world that distinguish the d'Aulaires' much-loved retellings of the Norse and Greek myths and their wildly playful Book of Trolls. Young children, meeting animals from all over the world for the first time, will be delighted not only with the animals themselves but with the simple and engaging text which provides information about the way they act, the world they live in, and—best of all—the sounds they make. D'Aulaires' Book of Animals is not only a perfect picture book for preschoolers, but a work of art that can be enjoyed by all.

Reviews

Unfold this glorious eight-foot-long frieze of nature's wild things and share a round-the-world safari with your favorite young animal lover. First published in 1940 and now happily back in print.
— Parenting Magazine

Also see:

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.

Jenny's Birthday Book By Esther Averill Today is the day, the day of days, the day of Jenny Linsky's birthday!

Wee Gillis By Munro Leaf Illustrations by Robert Lawson By the author and illustrator of the bestselling children's book The Story of Ferdinand. Wee Gillis spends half the year with his father's rough and rawkus highland people and the other half with his mother's gentle sheephearding folk. But it's up to him to decide where he fits in.

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.

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.

Picture Books Collection The Backward Day, D'Aulaires' Book of Animals, Jenny's Birthday Book, and The Two Cars

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