Elsa Beskow Alphabet Book

Elsa Beskow is a much loved Swedish author and illustrator of Children's books. We are so happy to finally have this beautiful collection of books in our store at Pappa Sven and we are sure you are going to love them too!

A charming alphabet book for everyone who loves the whimsical artwork of Swedish author and illustrator Elsa Beskow. Journey through the world of Elsa Beskow whilst exploring the alphabet -- from A for Accordian to Z for Zoom. Discover the rich details of Beskow's vintage artwork along the way, from Cow and Elephant to Flowers and Hare and even Polar Bear and Tomte.

This beautifully presented gift book brings together both much-loved and never before published illustrations from across the whole Elsa Beskow library, including favourites such as The Flowers' Festival, The Sun Egg, Pelle's New Suit, and Woody, Hazel and Little Pip. This wonderful new edition features a unique hand-crafted design, premium-quality paper, gold foil signature and a luxurious cloth spine.

About the Author

Elsa Beskow (1874 - 1953) was born in Stockholm, Sweden to a Norwegian family. Elsa grew up with fairy tales all around her and started telling stories even before she could speak properly. As a child Elsa Beskow would spend hours drawing trees and flowers in spring and summer, and she was nicknamed 'Princess' by her siblings. She gained a wide knowledge of plants and flowers, and her illustrations as an adult retained a child's pure and wondrous view of nature.

Literature, music and art was the central focus of her very liberal home. She was raised to stand up for what she believed in, at a time when the Swedish womens movement was growing in strength.

These values are reflected in her children's picture books. The Flowers Festival, from 1914, argues for freedom of speech for everyone, and some suggest that Mrs Chestnut is depicted as pregnant – a daring thing to do at a time when the middle classes were of the view that pregnant women should be kept out of sight.

Elsa's picture books were inspired by her life and her surroundings. Her sons became models for her drawings of children. All her child characters had a basis in reality and she created one picture book for each of her sons. Elsa Beskow's family lived in an old wooden mansion in Djursholm, outside of Stockholm in Sweden. The house had a huge, wild garden from which Elsa drew inspiration for her wonderful images of flowers and plants. Nature is always prominent in her picture books: they are full of flowers, plants, trees, animals and mountains. She combined reality with fantasy and fairy tales; children meet elves and goblins, animals talk and acorns come to life. Elsa Beskow told her stories to her children and later to her grandchildren.

Hardback