A Forest Story

Illustrations by Rudolf Mates for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929):

01 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

02 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

03 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

04 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

05 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

06 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)
The mole’s toothache dream

07 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

08 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

09 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

10 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

11 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

12 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

13 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

14 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

15 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929)

16 Rudolf Mates, illus. for A Forest Story by Josef Kozisek (Czechoslovakia, 1929), endpapers
from the illustrated endpapers

Rudolf Mates (1881 – 1966) was a school teacher and illustrator. A Forest Story and its close companion The Magic Flutes (1929, Longmans) appear to have been well-received in the US. (I’m not sure of the exact dates of the Czech editions.) There’s an overview of Mates’ life and work in Czech [Google English trans.].

This book’s intense lithographed colors successfully mimic the appearance of pochoir handcoloring. My scans can’t do justice to the super-saturated colors achieved by the Czech printers. (My scans also do not show the decorative, full-bleed border on each page.)

Coming soon: The Magic Flutes.

Also see: The Cock and the Hen

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Will Schofield is the editor of 50 Watts (original name: A Journey Round My Skull) and Writers No One Reads.

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