The Snow King

Every once in a while, I see something online that I fall in love with. This book is one such item. I kept searching Ebay and one day, there it was. With my name on it. And the price was right. The stars were aligned.

The book was printed in Ploland in 1968 and I have no idea what the story is other than it involves a King, a princess (?) , a polar bear, birds and a scarecrow. I believe the name is The Tale of the Snow King (or The Ballad of the Snow King), written by Tadeusz Kubiak and illustrated by Zbigniew Rychlicki The illustrations are frosty and perfect for the holiday season.

front cover

Back Cover

Janusz Stanny

I love the illustrations of Polish artist Janusz Stanny (1932-2014). I purchased this book on Ebay - it dates from 1962 and was published in Warsaw. I thought it might be poetry but I've translated a bit it's more of a nature lesson. The images are beautiful in their simplicity. I particularly like the way the fur is done on the wild boar and deer.

Vintage Polish Illustration

I just purchased this fabulous vintage book from a Polish seller on Ebay. I can't read it but I know that the first story is "Sleeping Beauty" so I assume it is a book of fairy tales (I couldn't translate the title). The book was published in Warsaw and dates from 1961 but I think it was originally published in Moscow in 1950. Anyway, I purchased it for the wonderful borders on every page. The illustrator is Michal Bylina (Polish, 1904-1982).

Polish Illustration - Adam Kilian

I love folk art and illustration and have recently become interested in vintage Polish art.  I saw images from this book online awhile ago and it suddenly came up for sale on Ebay so I snatched it up. The book was published in 1965 in Warsaw and I believe it is a play (the text is all in Polish...) It was illustrated by Ukrainian-born artist Adam Kilian. For some history about Adam Kilian, check out this website culture.pl. You can see more of Kilian's illustration on another website, Fishink (and Fishink has lots of other great stuff on it too!).

Here are most of the illustrations from the book  although not necessarily in order.

Vintage Illustration

I have become fascinated with vintage Polish illustration and recently purchased a few children's books on Ebay. Here are 2 versions of the same story. The name translates (according to google) as "As it was with Flax".  It is also translated as "The Golden Seed". It is a story of long ago about a stubborn King who wished for gold, written by Maria Konopnicka.

The first one, dating from 1970, is illustrated by Bogdan Zieleniec.  I can't find anything about the illustrator in English but I particularly like the horses.

The second one dates from 1962 and was illustrated by Janina Domanska (it is for sale in my Etsy shop here). I love the cover of this version.