Hans en Grietje (Hansel and Gretel in Dutch)

Prague: Artia, 1969. Decorated cloth. Very Good. Pop-up book with eight pop-ups in all, plus a pull or movable tab on the front cover. Oblong, 10 by 8 inches, or 26 by 21 cm. Kubasta illustrated pop-ups capture the charm and spirit of the classic fairy tale. Kubasta also pulled off a stylish mid-twentieth century look, streamlined and all splashy colored, while honoring more traditional aspects of fairy tale renderings, a feat that many of his contemporaries failed to achieve. Thus this appealed to children, who are notoriously conservative in their literary and artistic tastes, as well as the grown children who presented the book to the former group. All the mechanics of this copy function smoothly, and there are no losses. The cloth backstrip has some soilage, and there is some edgewear and and minor crease on the front board. Overall, a VG copy.