Books published by Albatross Publishers

Facsimile of 1933 Edition. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is written by Stein in the guise of an autobiography authored by Alice B. Toklas, her life partner. In 1998, Modern Library ranked it as one of the 20 greatest English-language nonfiction books of the 20th Century. It is a fascinating recollection of the art scene in Paris as the couple were friends with Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. They begin the war years in England but return to France, volunteering for the American Fund for the French Wounded, driving around France, helping the wounded and homeless. They become friends with Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway. It is by most accounts one of the best descriptions of the lives and morays of the American and European literary and artistic scene between the wars.

Facsimile of 1933 Edition. New English Translation especially for this edition. Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937) was a French writer and illustrator and creator of the Babar books, the first of which appeared in 1931. The book is based on a tale that Brunhoff's wife, Cécile, had invented for their children. It tells of a young elephant Babar whose mother is killed by a hunter. Babar escapes, and in the process leaves the jungle, visits a big city, and returns to bring the benefits of civilization to his fellow elephants. Just as he returns to his community of elephants, their king dies from eating a bad mushroom. Because of his travels and civilization, Babar is appointed king of the elephant kingdom. He marries his cousin, and they subsequently have children and teach them valuable lessons. In Babar the King, the third installment in this series, Babar and his family lead the elephants as they build a magnificent city: Celesteville. Life is peaceful and contented, everyone has a job to do, and celebrations are frequent. But one fateful day a snake bites the Old Lady and Babar fears that he may lose his oldest friend. Illustrated in full color by the author.

Facsimile of 1943 Edition. Born in 1875, the great German lyric poet Rainer Maria Rilke published his first collection of poems in 1898 and went on to become renowned for his delicate depiction of the workings of the human heart. Drawn by some sympathetic note in his poems, young people often wrote to Rilke with their problems and hopes. From 1903 to 1908 Rilke wrote a series of remarkable responses to a young, would-be poet on poetry and on surviving as a sensitive observer in a harsh world. Those letters, ten in all, remain a fresh source of inspiration and insight to the poetic sensibility to this day.