H. A. Rey (born Hans Augusto Reyersbach; September 16, 1898 – August 26, 1977) was a German-born American illustrator and author, known best for the series of

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

that he and his wife Margret Rey created about ''

Curious George Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written and illustrated by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original ...

''."Monkey Business in a World of Evil"
Rothstein, Edward. ''The New York Times''. March 26, 2010.

Early life

Hans Augusto Reyersbach was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

on September 16, 1898. He and his wife, Margret, were both German

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. They first met in Hamburg at Margret's sister's 16th birthday party. They met again in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, where Rey was working as a salesman of bathtubs and Margret had gone to escape the rise of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. They got married in 1935 and moved to

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in August of that year. They lived in Montmartre and fled Paris in June 1940 on bicycles, carrying the ''Curious George'' manuscript with them. They received visas in

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

under instructions from the Portuguese consul in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, which enabled them to leave Europe via Portugal.

Curious George

While in Paris, Rey's animal drawings came to the attention of a French publisher, who commissioned him to write a children's book. The characters in '' Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys'' included an impish

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

named

, and the couple then decided to write a book focused entirely on him. The outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

interrupted their work. Being

, the Reys decided to flee Paris before the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

invaded the city. Hans assembled two bicycles, and they left the city just a few hours before it fell. Among the meager possessions they brought with them was the illustrated manuscript of ''Curious George''. The Reys' odyssey took them to Bayonne, France, where they were issued life-saving visas signed by Portuguese Vice-Consul Manuel Vieira Braga (following instructions from Aristides de Sousa Mendes) on June 20, 1940. They crossed the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

border, where they bought train tickets to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. From there, they returned to Brazil, where they had met five years earlier, but this time they continued on to New York. The Reys escaped Europe carrying the manuscript to the first Curious George book, which was published in New York by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

in 1941. They originally planned to use watercolor illustrations, but since they were responsible for the color separation, Rey changed these to the cartoon-like images that continue to be featured in each of the books. A collector's edition with the original watercolors has since been released. ''Curious George'' was an instant success, and the Reys were commissioned to write more adventures of the mischievous monkey and his friend, the Man with the Yellow Hat. They wrote seven stories in all, with Hans mainly doing the illustrations and Margret working mostly on the stories, though they both admitted to sharing the work and cooperating fully in every stage of development. At first, however, covers omitted Margret's name. In later editions, this was changed, and Margret now receives full credit for her role in developing the stories. ''Curious George Takes a Job'' was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1960. In 1963, the Reys relocated to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, in a house near

Harvard Square Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue (Boston), Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, C ...

, and lived there until Rey died on August 26, 1977. In the 1990s, friends of the Reys founded a children's bookstore named Curious George & Friends (formerly Curious George Goes to Wordsworth), which operated in Harvard Square until 2011. A new Curious George themed store opened in 2012, The World's Only Curious George Store, which moved to Central Square in 2019.

Star charts

Rey's interest in astronomy began during World War I and led to his desire to redraw constellation diagrams, which Rey found difficult to remember, so that they were more intuitive. This led to the 1952 publication of '' The Stars: A New Way to See Them'' (). His constellation diagrams were adopted widely and now appear in many astronomy guides, such as Donald H. Menzel's ''A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets''. As of 2008 ''The Stars: A New Way to See Them'' and a simplified presentation for children called ''Find the Constellations'' are still in print. A new edition of ''Find the Constellations'' was released in 2008, updated with modern fonts, the new status of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

, and some more current measurements of planetary sizes and orbital radii. Image:Gemini_constellation_map.svg, Traditional diagram of the Gemini

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

. Image:Gemini constellation map visualization 1.PNG, Rey's alternative diagram of Gemini: twins are shown holding hands. File:Leo_constellation_map.svg, Traditional diagram of the Leo constellation. File:Leo_constellation_map_visualization.PNG, Rey's alternative diagram of Leo: A lion walking. File:Virgo_constellation_map.svg, Traditional diagram of the

Virgo Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

constellation. File:Virgo_constellation_map_visualization.PNG , Rey's alternative diagram of Virgo: A lying woman. File:Great_Diamond_map.gif, Rey's Virgin's Diamond asterism

Collected papers

The University of Oregon holds H. A. Rey papers dated 1940 to 1961, dominated by correspondence, primarily between Rey and his American and British publishers. The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, holds more than 300 boxes of Rey papers dated 1973 to 2002. Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond, a professor in the field of library science at the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

, contacted the Reys in 1966 about USM's new children's literature collection. H. A. and Margret donated a pair of sketches at the time. When Margret Rey died in 1996, her will designated that the entire literary estate of the Reys be donated to the de Grummond Collection.

Books written by H. A. Rey

* '' Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys'' * ''

'' * '' Curious George Takes a Job'' * '' Curious George Rides a Bike'' * '' Curious George Gets a Medal'' * '' Curious George Learns the Alphabet'' * '' Curious George Goes to the Hospital'' * ''Feed the Animals'' * ''Find the Constellations'' * ''Elizabite - Adventures of a Carnivorous Plant'' * ''How Do You Get There?'' * ''

Pretzel A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baking, baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twi ...

'' * '' The Stars: A New Way to See Them'' * ''Where's My Baby?'' * ''See the Circus'' * ''Tit for Tat'' * ''Billy's Picture'' * ''Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World'' * ''Au Clair de la Lune and other French Nursery Songs'' (1941) * ''Spotty'' (1945) * ''Mary had a Little Lamb and other Nursery Songs'' (1951) * ''Humpty Dumpty and other Mother Goose Songs'' (©1943 Harper & Brothers)

Books illustrated by H. A. Rey

* ''Dem Andenken Christian Morgensterns 12 Lithographien zu seinem Werk, von Hans Reyersbach (= H. A. Rey), signiert und mit Text in Bleistift HR 22'' (1922) * ''Die Sommerfrische: 10 Idyllen in Linol-Schnitt, von Hans Reyersbach (= H. A. Rey), Berlin'' (1923) * ''Grotesken - 12 Lithographien zu Christian Morgensterns Grotesken von Hans Reyersbach (= H. A. Rey). Neue Folge. 400 Exemplare, Hamburg Kurt Enoch Verlag'' (1923) * ''

'', written by Margret Rey (1941) * ''Elizabite - The Adventures of a Carnivorous Plant'' (1942) * ''Don't Frighten the Lion'' (1942) * ''Katy No-Pocket'' (1944) * ''

'', written by Margret Rey (1944) * ''We Three Kings and other Christmas Carols'' (1944) * '' Curious George Takes a Job'', written by Margret Rey (1947) * '' Curious George Rides a Bike'', written by Margret Rey (1952) * '' Curious George Gets a Medal''. written by Margret Rey (1957) * '' Curious George Flies a Kite'', written by Margret Rey (1958) * '' Curious George Learns the Alphabet'', written by Margret Rey (1963) * '' Curious George Goes to the Hospital'', written by Margret Rey (1966)

Wordless Novel

* ''Zebrology''. Chatto and Windus; London, England; (1937)Zebrology
a bibliographic listing for Zebrology

References

;Citations

A curious tale of George's creators
* Jaeger, Roland: "H. A. und Margret Rey", in: Spalek, John M. / Feilchenfeldt, Konrad / Hawrylchak, Sandra H. (ed.): ''Deutschsprachige Exilliteratur seit 1933'', vol. 3, USA, part 2; Bern/München 2000, p. 351−360 * Jaeger, Roland: "Collecting Curious George. Children's Books Illustrated by H. A. Rey", in: ''Firsts. The Book Collector's Magazine'', vol. 8, 1998, no. 12 (Dec.), p. 50–57 * Jaeger, Roland: "Der Schöpfer von 'Curious George': Kinderbuch-Illustrator H. A. Rey". in: ''Aus dem Antiquariat'', 1997, No. 10, A543−A551

External links

*
Margret and H. A. Rey Interactive Timeline: Life in Paris and a Narrow Escape

Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey
The

Jewish Museum (New York) The Jewish Museum is an art museum housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the Felix M. Warburg House, along the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The museum holds a collection of approximately 30,000 objects, including ...

, March 14, 2010 – August 1, 2010. *
See IMDB: Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators (2017)

H.A. & Margret Rey Papers at the University of Southern Mississippi LibrariesH.A. & Margret Rey Digital Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi LibrariesH.A. Rey papers
at the University of Oregon {{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, H. A. 1898 births 1977 deaths Artists from Cambridge, Massachusetts American academics of English literature American children's book illustrators German children's book illustrators American children's writers German children's writers German illustrators German male writers Curious George Jewish American artists Jewish American children's writers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States People associated with astronomy Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Writers from Hamburg Writers who illustrated their own writing Wordless novels