J. B. Kaufman’s “Snow White” Books and a Disney Sketchbook

This is turning out to be quite the year for historical Disney animation books. We’ve already announced Pete Docter’s Nine Old Men flipbook series and my own biography Full Steam Ahead: The Life and Art of Ward Kimball. Now, available for pre-order are two different Snow White books, in honor of the film’s 75th anniversary, which is this December.

The first is The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is written by the incomparable J. B. Kaufman, author of Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney and South of the Border with Disney: Walt Disney and the Good Neighbor Program, 1941-1948. At a hefty 320 pages, this promises to be the final word on the production of that seminal Disney film.

The second volume, also by Kaufman, is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Art and Creation of Walt Disney’s Classic Animated Film. More of an art book, this serves as the catalog to a major Snow White art exhibit that will open this fall at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Both Kaufman books will be published in October.

Also, arriving in October: A Disney Sketchbook. I’m not quite clear about the contents of the book, but judging from the description, it sounds like there will be lots of Disney development artwork in it (hopefully, mostly unpublished):

Imagine if one sketchbook had been passed down through the decades from one Disney animator to the next, with each one making a contribution before leaving it in the talented hands of another artist. That idea was the inspiration for A Disney Sketchbook. The drawings contained within it represent the entire range of animation development, from the origins of ideas to fully conceived characters. Pencil studies of a much-younger Wendy and a serpentlike sea witch reveal the many imaginative iterations that animators create before they ultimately perfect every hero and villain. And comprehensive studies of Mickey and Baloo showcase the dedication that goes into defining the facial expressions and body language of each beloved character. Films and shorts from throughout the history of the company are featured–beginning with Steamboat Willie and ending with Tangled–demonstrating the ingenuity and skill that have remained a constant at Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1928.