Quick reminder: Pierre Lambert's stunning new book about The Aristocats has been released and can be ordered on Amazon.fr

Hear! Hear! I am so proud of this one and the amazing work by the Hyperion Historical Alliance team.

You can order it at this link.

Don't forget to pick up Todd James Pierce's great new book!

 Tom Sito's autobiography! This will be good.

I have not been to the cinema in quite a while (I am not proud of this) and yet I definitely plan to go watch Zootopia 2 on the big screen when it is released later this month.

I am a huge fan of Zootopia, which I consider to be one of the very best Disney movies of the 21st century, and I just wrote a whole chapter about that first movie for an upcoming Taschen book. Which makes me even more curious to discover the new characters and neighborhoods that the artists created for Zootopia 2.

The Art of Zootopia 2 book by Chronicle Books is so gorgeous and full of compelling visual development artwork that it raises my anticipation to yet another level.

Sanjay Patel used to work for Pixar and wrote and directed the beautiful short Sanjay's Super Team.

His new book, Mahabharata: Designs of Dharma may not be a Disney publication, but it is so beautiful, so massive and makes for such a great gift for the holidays that I have to mention its release on this blog.

One of the two important epics of Hinduism along with the Ramayana, the Mahabharata is a complex story which is splendidly adapted and illustrated by Patel in this 400+ art book.

Way to go Mr. Patel. That you from all of us for this absolute masterpiece!

I just became aware last week of this excellent new book released by Theme Park Press (under new management) and immediately picked up a copy.

Tim Foster's book about "it's a small world" has just been released. Like Tim Foster's previous books it is an excellent entry point to this aspect of Disney history for casual Disney enthusiasts.

I particularly enjoyed the portraits of the artists in the style of Mary Blair :-)

I just received one of the books that I was most looking forward to: Worlds to Conquer: The Art & Making of Walt Disney's Fantasia by JB Kaufman. 

I was not disappointed. In fact, I am blown away, as expected. The research that JB conducted is in-depth and all-encompassing, which is no surprise, and I discovered many photos from the making of the movie that I had never seen before.

Of course, the sections that I most enjoyed are the ones entitled "The Cutting Room Floor" about the elements that did not make it into the movie.

Way to go JB. Once more this one is a "must-have."

Three wonderful Disney-related comic books / graphic novels released this year:

Disney Epic Mickey: The Comics Collection

Uncle Scrooge And The Infinity Dime Gallery Edition

Marvel & Disney: What If...?

 

Great auction coming up this week at Heritage Auctions, which will delight both Disney parks and Disney animation enthusiasts.

 

One of the readers of the Disney History blog just alerted me about the upcoming release of this book and I am very much looking forward to picking it up when the time comes.

Back in the 2000s and early 2010s, when I was still living in Madrid, journalist and historian Jorge Fonte was researching a book about the history of The Walt Disney Company in Spain and Portugal.

Sadly, at the time the book was not released.

Which is why I was delighted to learn that he decided to include many of his findings in his new book (which was released last week): Eso no estaba en mi libro de historia de Disney.

If you read Spanish that one is worth picking up.

I have just received my copy of Xavier "X" Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend and, as expected, this book is a "must have."

From cover to cover, it is full of documents that I had never seen before and of fascinating stories. The authors of the book, X.'s two daughters and his granddaughter have really done their homework.

Whether you love the art of Disney animated features or are interested in the behind-the-scenes of Imagineering this book is for you and I would advise that you get your copy right away. 

Pure joy from beginning to end!!!

I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. I am one of many, many fans.

I own all the books ever released about the movie and I just got a copy of The Ultimate Visual History, which will be officially released next month. 

Let's say it as loud as possible: If, like me, you love the movie, this book is a must have, I had high hopes and it exceeded them... by a wide margin! 

From cover to cover it is full of illustrations that I had never seen before; the research is terrific, and the publisher also decided to add artifacts throughout the book, which, literally, add another dimension to all of this.

This is definitely not a nightmare but a real dream before Christmas.

I just received a copy of the hard cover book Walt Disney's Trains: A Grand Circle Tour Through His Life and Legacy and there is something very satisfying about this exhibition catalog.

While I had seen most of the photographs and artwork before, many of the artefacts featured in this publication are new to me and the quality of the layout makes this volume a real feast for the eyes. 

Great addition to your Disney history library. Great gift for the holidays.

I try to get every single book and catalog linked to Disney history that has ever been released anywhere in the world. It is sometimes a real challenge: The "Disney Cats & Dogs" catalog from the 2021 exhibition in Japan and the "Donald Made in Austria" catalog from a 2023 exhibition at a museum in Krems, Austria are case in point, but I finally managed to order copies of both of them. I am not sure yet how that was even doable 🙂 Fun challenges.

 

I loved Disney's Golden Books when I was a kid (they were translated in French) and I rediscovered them when I began conducting research for They Drew as They Pleased--The Hidden Art of Disney, especially when I worked on the chapter about Retta Scott.

And in recent years I have learned to love them again, thanks to new installments in the series like Little Man of Disneyland: A Change of Luck and Santa Stops at Disneyland.

The new book by Taschen, Walt Disney’s Children’s Classics 1937–1953, which collects some of the best of Disney's Golden Books, with a thoughtful and enlightening introduction by Charles Solomon, is a winner, among other thing because it beautifully showcases the art of artists like Dick Kelsey, Al Dempster, Retta Scott, John Hench, etc.

Definitely worth adding to your bookshelf.

 I am so looking forward to Pierre Lambert's upcoming book!

 New Disney auction beginning tomorrow...