The Story of Babar (Histoire de Babar)

The census claim is confirmed. The true first is Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant, Éditions du Jardin des Modes, Paris, 1931, in French. In English the first is the American edition — The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1933, translated by Merle Haas, a folio of 48 pp. in quarter cloth over illustrated boards with pictorial endpapers — which precedes the first British edition, Methuen, London, 1934. Both English editions are collected. The Methuen edition is distinguished by a preface by A. A. Milne, who saw the French book at a friend's house in 1932 and persuaded Methuen to publish it; the Smith & Haas edition has no Milne preface, so the preface is itself a quick edition test.