HEADLINER

Publisher Sarbacane
Publication Date 03 October 2018

Children's Books

THE RICH HOURS OF JACOMINUS GAINSBOROUGH

"The story is really beautiful, the rabbit very endearing, the format, original…" 

Les Riches heures de Jacominus Gainsborough by Rebecca Dautremer, published by Sarbacane in october 2018 became a bestseller in Germany, where the author was unknown and where the illustrated children’s book doesn’t have the same significance as it does in France.


Rebecca Dautremer's books have been very successful for a long time. Les Riches heures de Jacominus Gainsborough has sold more than 50,000 copies in France. It has been translated into twelve languages, from Italian to Swedish to Russian. More than 45,000 copies have been sold across Greece, China, and the Ukraine. In Germany, however, this work remained unknown, so much so, that Claire Hartmann, Sarbacane’s agent, was surprised when Insel Verlag contacted her with an interest in acquiring the German rights to Les Riches heures de Jacominus Gainsborough. "I was a little worried because I didn't know this imprint of Suhrkamp dedicated to classical and modern literature.  I wasn’t sure if the book would fit into its list and if the publisher would appreciate this author," recalls Claire Hartmann.
 
An author unlike many others; after having had a long run of bestsellers at Hachette (Gautier Languereau), she decided that she wanted to do something different and work with a small publishing house. Sarbacane was able to convince her to come on board with them.  In 2016, Le Bois dormait was born, a book about art and childhood for children and adults, where, for the first time, she both wrote and illustrated. She continued on this new path with Les Riches heures de Jacominus Gainsborough, which has enchanted readers and the press in France: "A book that looks like a painting and reads like a philosophical tale" (Le Figaro); A "masterpiece that will impress both young and old and proves that children's literature is a true art." (Télérama)
 
But was it also going to appeal to readers in Germany where the illustrated children’s book doesn’t have the same significance?  "Like in many countries, illustrated books are read primarily by children who can’t read, and at seven, children are then given early reader chapter books, more complex, richly illustrated narrative books do not exist for these readers," explains Claire Hartmann. After several email exchanges with Sabine Erbrich, the Foreign Literature Editor at Suhrkamp who is also the head of the new children’s book collection at Insel (launched in March 2019), Hartmann was convinced by the editor’s vision and granted Insel the publishing rights for the fall of 2019.
 
"I was immediately seduced by this very literary text," recalls Sabine Erbrich. "It's philosophical, and the story is really beautiful, the rabbit very endearing, the format original, with its photo albums, and Delacroix paintings. It's an aesthetic that appeals to children and adults alike. That is precisely what we are looking for. In the same spirit, we launched Christelle Dabos’ collection and the Little People series, Big Dreams by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara," explains Sabine Erbrich, who had another very good argument for buying the rights to Jacominus:  Insel was the German publisher for some of the works of Beatrix Potter, the illustrious English author of Peter Rabbit, and Rebecca Dautremer pays tribute to her in this work by naming the character of Jacominus' grandmother after her.
 
Published under the title Das Stundenbuch des Jacominus Gainsborough and marketed primarily in general bookstores, the book sold 6,000 copies locally and won the Franco-German Prize for Children's Literature. Jacominus’ German story continues because, once again, Rebecca Dautremer’s talent has charmed a publisher and Insel could not resist Midi pile, a very ambitious and expensive work - 202 pages of paper cutouts. It will be a co-edition with éditions Sarbacane.

Interview by Katja Petrovic
May 2020