H.A. Rey: Pretzel

Original signed artwork depicting H. A. Rey’s (creator of Curious George) children’s book character, Pretzel.

Lovely original artwork by the co-creator of Curious George of his lesser known, but equally lovable character, Pretzel, who made two appearances in children’s books: Pretzel, first published in 1944 and Pretzel and the Puppies, published in 1946. Both titles are still currently in print today. This massive three color (orange, black and blue) crayon drawing was presented to a classroom in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1970 which Rey visited and is signed and dated by Rey in the lower right hand corner. The artwork was originally mounted on a larger piece of cardboard with the photographs of the children from the class pasted to the verso. The artwork has been removed from the cardboard and professionally restored. It has been laid down on archival quality board and de-acidified.

Original artwork by either of the Reys is notoriously uncommon as the majority of their artistic and literary production was left to the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. Active pursuit of Rey’s remaining original artwork by this library and other university special collections around the country has left precious little for collectors. This is an important original piece of children’s literary history.