BANTAM PICTURE BOOKS

Hilary created two titles for the Bantam series. They are tiny; only 15mm high and 11.5mm wide, printed on cheap paper stock and stapled together.

This was the most practical and economic way to produce children’s books under wartime conditions, but it means that very few of the original books have survived.

In 1944 Bantam published two titles by Hilary; The Animals Went in Two by Two using the lyrics of a traditional song about Noah’s Ark; and The Silly Rabbits, an original story.

Fortunately Hilary kept not only a couple of copies of each of the printed books, but also the hand-written and drawn dummies that she had created.