Adolf Zábranský

Has anyone spotted a theme in recent posts? I seem to be getting quite a few questions through one way or another -- nothing unusual about that but I'm thinking that answering things in public might generate a little further information, especially on some of the more mysterious (at least to me) authors and artists I get asked about.

So... Virginia asks if I know of any books produced by Adolf Zábranský.

My first thought was... who?

A little digging around reveals that he was a Czecholslovakian illustrator and poster artist (1909-1981) and he's listed at various art-related sites (artnet, askart, findartinfo, etc.) which list auction prices and can easily be found via Google. I have zero knowledge of the Czech language but I believe he was born 29 November 1909 and died 8 September 1981.

There would seem to have been a study of Zábranský's work -- Adolf Zábranský by J.M. Bohác (Praha, Odeon, 1985) and a later 46-page portfolio, Adolf Zábranský : knižní ilustrace by Jan Baleka (Ve Frenštátě pod Radhoštěm, Muzejní a vlastivědná společnost, 1999).

From hereon I'll stick to books that appeared in the UK. Hopefully this is a reasonably complete list. Some, Ring o' Roses, for instance, are translations of books that originally appeared in Czechoslovakia (Ringelreihen, 1956) and it's probably the same book that was translated as Ring-a-Ling. One thing that does have me scratching my head is that he illustrated three books by Rene Cloke, herself a very well known illustrator. Maybe those poems were also adaptations? Anyway, on with the list...

Illustrated Books
Ring o' Roses. A treasury for children, selected by Petr Denk; translated and adapted by Ingeborg Glaser. London, Andrew Dakers, 1958.
Ring-a-Ling, verses adapted from folk songs by Monroe Stearns. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1959.
Underneath My Apple Tree, verses by Monroe Stearns. Philadelphia & New York, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1960.
The Smiling Sun by Rosemary Garland. London, Paul Hamlyn, 1961.
A Posy of Little Verses by Rene Cloke. London, Paul Hamlyn, 1967.
Music in the Meadows by Rene Cloke. London, Paul Hamlyn, 1968.
The Happy Seasons. Poems for the young by Rene Cloke. London, Paul Hamlyn, 1968.