Leah Goldberg – Layout of the Book "Gaddi and his little donkey" – Unpublished Children's Book

Leah Goldberg – Layout of the Book "Gaddi and his little donkey" – Unpublished Children's Book
Leah Goldberg, layout of the book "Gaddi und sein kleine Esel, Eine Gedichte aus Israel, mit Bilder von Anna Riwkin Brick und Text von Leah Goldberg" [Gaddi and his little donkey, poem-story from Israel, illustrations by Anna Riwkin-Brick and text by Leah Goldberg], Tel-Aviv, 1959. German.
In the 1950s-60s several children's books were published in Israel, accompanied by b/w photos, about children's lives in Israel and worldwide. The series of children's books created by Swedish photographer Anna (Hana) Riwkin-Brick with the author Astrid Lingren, was very popular at the time.
Anna Riwkin-Brick (born in Russia, 1908, died in Tel-Aviv, 1970) was born to a Zionist family (her father was a delegate to the 1st Zionist Congress). In 1915, when still very young, immigrated with her parents to Sweden where she was raised and educated, in Stockholm. Worked as an assistant to the photographer Moise Benkow. In 1928 opened her own photography studio and started to work as a professional photographer. After WW II worked for the Swedish magazine "Se" and travelled frequently in Sweden and abroad. During her travels Riwkin photographed the places she visited (traveled to and photographed in Japan, Korea, Israel and India). The frequent travels led to the series of books mentioned above; a series of nineteen books (the text of nine books was composed by Lindgren) portraying lives of children in various countries around the world. To mention some of the series' books: "Ella Kari, the Girl from Lapland"(1954), "Nariko-San, the Girl from Japan" (1957), "Sea, the Girl from Africa" (1959) and other books, translated into Hebrew by Leah Goldberg.
The popularity of the books translated from Swedish into Hebrew led to the creation of similar local versions in Hebrew, portraying lives of children in Eretz Israel, like, for example, "The Small Queen of Sheba – Story of Children – Olim" (1956) – about a girl who arrived from Morocco and her attempts to adapt to life in a Kibbutz, and "Adventure in the Desert" (1966) – about three children of Kibbutz Revivim. As Lindgren's books brought scents of remote countries to the children of Israel, local attempts from Israel were exported to children of the world through the books "Little Queen of Sheba" (New York, 1959) and "Eli Lives in Israel" / "Eli aus Israel / "Eli bor I Israel" (New-York, 1964;London, 1964;Hamburg, 1964;Stockholm,1964) – all being the outcome of a fruitful cooperation between Goldberg who composed the texts and Riwkin-Brick who contributed her photos.
The booklet presented here, which was probably about to be published in Hebrew, in Swedish and in German, is an example of the above mentioned cooperation. The booklet contains 43 photos with short texts by Goldberg, creating 43 "scenes" portraying a day in Gaddi's life, a child in a Kibbutz in the northern Valley of Jordan. The story opens with a short introduction: "Shalom, boys and girls! We will tell you the story of Gaddi and his little donkey (who was much smarter than Gaddi!)". Following is an introduction of Gaddi's family, first his mother, a teacher, his father – a farmer who drives a tractor (and teaches Gaddi how to drive a tractor);
then, more children of the Kibbutz appear and introduce different animals, amongst them Gaddi's favorite donkey. Gaddi and his donkey explore the Kibbutz lanes but suddenly the donkey disappears. This sends Gaddi to search outside of the Kibbutz: he visits nearby settlements (including an Arab village). Gaddi meets a shepherd and goes through various experiences but he cannot find his way back home and when night falls, sad and desperate, Gaddi falls asleep under an Eucalyptus tree. His worried parents turn to the police (in Afula) for help and start looking for him. One of the Kibbutz members finds Gaddi the following morning walking on the road next to the Kinneret. He makes Gaddi drink some orange juice and takes him back home, to the Kibbutz and to his parents where Gaddi is received with joy and where he finds his favorite donkey. The last scene tells how Gaddi's mother puts him to sleep and this is how the story ends.
The booklet presented here is most probably a complete and advanced layout, very close to the final version of the book which was supposed to be published, mainly for two reasons: as far as the texts are concerned – they are complete (except for one case, on pages 6-7, where it seems that the text is not final), and secondly – as far as the photos are concerned – they appear in their correct order, each one perfectly laid out. On the margins of most of the pages and around the photos are various handwritten inscriptions and scribbles with instructions for the final layout of the leaves and the photos. The size of the photos is not uniform and their shape is not final, this is why one finds comments about photos that have to be enlarged or where a small landscape photo replaces a large panoramic photo. Comments appearing on margins of leaves imply that Goldberg and Riwkin-Brick, were planning to publish the book in Hebrew and Swedish translations (in addition to the original version in German?) and prepared in advance the layout of the pages – from right to left and from left to right – by noting "Hebr." And "Schw." ,according to the writing direction of the different languages.
The book "Gaddi and his Little donkey", which remained hidden for many years was first exhibited to the public in the exhibition "In Detail, from the collections of Arnie Druck" in the Haifa Museum of Art in 2010.
The booklet presented here is a hidden fruit of cooperation between one of the most outstanding Hebrew poets, intellectuals, authors and writers for children in modern times and an important artistic photographer, talented and creative; this cooperation resulted in famous and well known and very successful creations. "Gaddi and his Little donkey" is a link in a chain of excellent children's books meant to widen knowledge and imagination of young readers by exposing them to lives of their peers worldwide. This exposure to different and exotic places was done through intelligent use of short and dramatic plots and large and professional photos. The books aimed at increasing both curiosity and tolerance in children's minds and at presenting to them how the similarities overcome differences even when a child lives in another country or speaks a different language. "Gaddi and his Little donkey" is a significant example of this educational attitude. For unknown reasons, the plan to publish the book did not materialize and the joint creation was never published.
48 pp bound in a 12X13.5 cm. booklet in a Bristol cover. Good condition. Dark stains to reverse side of leaves (where photos are pasted). Two filing-holes to upper part of each leaf. Photo on "introduction" leaf is missing.
Attached are three Bristol-cards with printed photos of Riwkin, with dedications handwritten by Riwkin as well as a promotional leaflet of Riwkin, consisting of four pages, titled "Riwkin pictures picture life".
Exhibition: "In Detail, From the Collection of Arnie Druck (Curator: Yeala Hazut). Haifa Museum of Art, 2010.
From the collections of Arnie Druck.