Daniel Boone

[ROJANKOVSKY, Fedor]. Daniel Boone. [Edited by Esther Averill and Lila Stanley]. [Paris: Domino Press, 1931]. 4to, [12]pp. Blue cloth spine with color pictorial boards. Color lithographs by Fedor Rojankovsky on every page. Light rubbing to spine ends and upper and lower edges of boards, a couple of light scratches to front cover, else a surprisingly fine, bright copy.

First edition. Rojankovky’s trailblazing picture book celebrating the life of Daniel Boone and the American West featuring striking, fauvist-inspired lithographs, drawn by the artist directly on lithographic stones, and printed by Mourlot Frères. Averill, an American ex-patriot living in Paris, originally partnered with Rojankovsky on a different project. When that was canceled, Rojankovsky suggested they collaborate on a children's book. Rojankovsky's childhood love of James Fenimoore Cooper led to them choosing Daniel Boone as the subject for the project with the intention of creating a lavish vision of the American West. When American publishers responded by saying the proposed book was too expensive, Averill went out and founded the Domino Press so to issue the book. Published in both French and English, this copy is the English issue. This was the first English-language book Rojankovsky illustrated, and represents an important turning point in the history of picture books in its incorporation of Russian artistic styles and innovative layout of pictures with text. Rojankovsky’s stunning lithographs, reproduced far less vibrantly in later editions, just leap off the page!