© 2015 . All rights reserved.

Album de Animales Mexicanos por Gabriel Fernández Ledesma (1944)

In the early 90s I went to Mexio to work on my novel, What Night Forgets, usually for the month of January. When I was in the city of Oaxaca, I was always looking for books of printed art by the Oaxacan artist, Francisco Toledo. One day, instead of a book by Toledo, I found Album de Animales Mexicanos, reprinted in 1991, an edition of two thousand copies, from the original public school primer in 1944 created by the Mexican artist, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, funded by the Secretary of Public Education.

The book, meant for Mexican school children, was almost not published because of the lack of paper; it was World War II, and there were shortages, but the idea of recycling paper took hold and this beautiful schoolbook was finally printed.

I’ve always felt lucky to have it, and wanting now to share it, I’ve scanned the book from cover to cover. May you enjoy it at your leisure as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together.

Click on a page to enlarge it.




























































































Leave a Reply