Alef Bet [ABC book Hebrew/ English].

Sm. square 4to.

Sewn, upper cover illustrated in black and red (sm. scratches and one trace of tape on lower cover). Inside good condition.

Illustrated in black and red linogravure throughout but 2 pp. with added bright yellow: cover and title featuring a clown dancing in a hullabaloo of letters and 22 pp. depicting various things or animals with letters A B C... and the words in Hebrew and English: a lion opposite a house, David facing Goliath, Vajezatha facing Haman, a singer, a cat, a dog, another clown, a monkey in front of a mirror, an elephant facing a hunter etc. Mariam Bartov (1914-2012), renowned Israeli children's author, painter and illustrator, was born in Hamburg. She created her first book in 1949, followed by many others. In 1986 she won the Ben-Yitzhak Prize, awarded by the Israel Museum to an exceptional illustrator of children's books. "[...] Bartov adapted modernism and the International (Bauhaus) style that dominated art, which she absorbed during her youth in Germany, to the world of children's books [...] The [lino] cuts lead to simplification and clean lines, and still her work is very connected to the child [...]" (T. Roten, From a More Innocent Time: The Little Black Boy of Our Childhood Books, online).