Original signed drawing of two children from Fair Play

No place, 1940. Original signed drawing by Munro Leaf (1905-1976), featuring characters from Fair Play, his 1939 storybook on the subject of good citizenship. The little boy, “Justme,” characterized by his frown and distinctively drawn baggy pants, serves as an example of selfish, rude behavior throughout the book, shouting in the library and shoving at the water fountain. Leaf warns readers: “one hundred and thirty million people all doing only just what they felt like doing would make an awful mess and no one would be happy.” In this drawing, likely created on a publicity stop as a souvenir for a young fan, Leaf juxtaposes Justme with a smiling little girl, one of the characters who exemplifies the “fair play” necessary for a functioning society. Fair Play was a longer work in the manner of Leaf’s popular “Can Be Fun” series, which began with Grammar Can Be Fun in 1934, and ran to over a dozen educational titles, all featuring his expressive, immediately recognizable stick figures. Leaf remains best known for his 1936 collaboration with illustrator Robert Lawson, The Story of Ferdinand, the story of a peace-loving bull in rural Andalusia: a tale banned in Franco’s Spain, where it was seen as a critique of fascism. Munro Leaf’s archive is housed at the Free Library of Philadelphia; his original drawings, especially signed examples, are scarce on the market. A delightful piece. Black Conté crayon on paper, measuring 22.5 x 18.5 inches, sheet size. Signed in red crayon to bottom right margin. Line of dampstaining along bottom margin, hidden by archival mat.