Recently, in a visit to Covent Garden’s fashionable Magma graphic design store, my eyes found themselves irresistably drawn to a reprint of a Tove Jansson Moomin picture book from the late 1950s. The book – called unselfconsciously
The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My [cover] – tells the story of how young Moomintroll stumbles upon Mymble, whose mischievous daughter has become lost in the wilds of Moominvalley. Each page is a stunning piece of design and artistry conveying an incredibly atmospheric – and uncomfortably scary – world. I bought the book immediately – there’s work inside that reminds me of the woodcut artist and typographer Eric Gill. This is not the kind of childrens book that people seem to make any more.
There aren’t really enough really good sites about Tove Jansson or the Moomins online – certainly not that convey the full impact of her artwork – but I’ve compiled a few useful links for anyone who wants more of an introduction to her work: