Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 Nov 2026.
Buy a copy: eBay
The full price history: every sale, the chart and values by condition.
You have opened your 3 free price histories for today. Members get 10 a day, Pro members unlimited.
Le Roi Babar first appeared in France in 1933. The English text, translated by Merle Haas, was published in the United States by H. Smith and R. Haas in 1935. The first British edition is Methuen, London, 1936: a large picture book about 37 cm tall, 47 numbered pages, printed by W. S. Cowell, with the author's name above the title. A UK union catalogue record held by the national libraries of Scotland and Wales calls it the first English edition, and the British Library holds the same 1936 Methuen folio. Methuen reprinted it in 1937 at the same size as the 'Second English edition', and Open Library lists a 1953 fifth edition, so check the date. Later facsimiles carry ISBNs, which the 1936 book does not: a full-size Methuen reissue (ISBN 0-416-96720-5, listed for 1986 and catalogued in 1998 as a facsimile of the 1936 edition) and a 13 cm miniature facsimile of 1991, also sold in a boxed set of four.
Read the full guide to Methuen first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.
Methuen, London, in 1936, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 November 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
For most books published since the 1920s, the original dust jacket carries a large share of the value, often most …
Read the guide →7 min readTo identify a first edition, check that your copy is the first printing of the first edition. Read the copyright …
Read the guide →6 min readBook condition grading uses a six-step trade scale: Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Collectors grade the …
Read the guide →