Fifteen original illustrations for The Big Book of Real Trains
No place: circa 1949. Fourteen opaque watercolors and one ink drawing, images measuring approximately 10 x 19 inches on boards measuring 14 x 21 inches, signed “Zaffo” in lower images. All images horizontal except cover image, measuring 15 x 10.75 inches on board measuring 21.5 x 12.5 inches. Scattered notes, captions, and registration tape in lower margins. Paper protective overleaves taped to top of boards. With: alternate title page watercolor, alternate watercolor version of “Train Signals,” and signed ink drawing of a rail yard. With: lithographed print of the book’s pictorial endpapers, signed by Zaffo, and a copy of the published book.
Suite of original watercolors by prolific children’s illustrator George J. Zaffo (1916-1984) for The Big Book of Real Trains, published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1949. In addition to the striking cover design of a steam train barreling down the tracks against the night sky, Zaffo’s watercolors for this “Big Treasure Book” depict a Hudson locomotive, a New York Central Lines tender, a Pennsylvania Railroad automobile car, an A.R.T. refrigerator car, a Nickel Plate Road gondola, a Norfolk & Western hopper, an M.K.T. cattle car, a Shell tank car, and an East & West Railroad caboose. The final two spreads depict the parts of a locomotive and a series of train signals, both to be captioned with explanatory text in the published book. One published image is missing from the suite: the watercolor for “Flat Car.” Three additional original illustrations are present as well: an alternate title page watercolor, an alternate watercolor version of “Train Signals,” and a signed ink drawing of a rail yard produced by Zaffo for a later revised edition. Also included is a lithographed print of the book’s pictorial endpapers, signed by Zaffo, with penciled notes by the printer. Known for his meticulous attention to technical detail, Zaffo’s popular picture books introduced generations of American children to the mechanics of transportation. Before opening his own studio, he worked as a tracer for Norman Rockwell, and as an animator at Terrytoons and the U.S. Army Signal Corps. By 1960, his picture books could be found in nearly every school library across the country, spurred by Jacqueline Kennedy’s selection of Your Freight Trains (1958) and The Giant Nursery Book of Things That Go (1959) for the White House Library. In 1969, the New York Times observed that “his outsized drawings - straightforward and eye-filling - have mesmerized small children,” and suggested that his latest work, The Giant Book of Things in Space, “may well prove to be the nursery set’s ‘2001.’” A vivid group of original watercolors from the artist’s estate, with related ephemera.
Price: $7,500.00