At first, we thought that Fernand Nathan was an individual… but we could find no information about, or image of, the man. Then we realised that Fernand Nathan is actually the publisher. Perhaps a bit like the Ladybird books, the authors and illustrators were often of secondary consideration.
Lise Marin was one of the few book illustrators that was named; she was responsible for the imagery for the ‘Ploum and Ploumette’, early ‘Daniel and Valérie’ characters and ‘Je joue…’ series.
As well as books, Fernand Nathan produced other educational toys and games such as dominoes, rubber stamp kits, jigsaws, crosswords, card games and posters. We have one of their games, Loto du Marché for sale in our shop at the moment.
Some of the works remind us of another French illustration duo of the era that we love, Lefor Openo.
Image credits: