Under the pseudonym Tom Seidmann-Freud—often shortened to just "Tom"—Sigmund Freud's eccentric niece Martha illustrated a series of wonderful children's books in the early twentieth century. She killed herself in 1930 (age 37 or 38), a year after her husband killed himself. This grim ending is not reflected in her dream-like, often whimsical work. (12/30 update: "whimsically apocalyptic" might be more accurate for the rabbit book.)
I feature here most of her illustrations for Buch Der Hasengeschichten (The Book of Rabbit Stories, 1924)—one of my favorite children's books though I'll likely never own a copy—and a handful from Die Fischreise (The Fish's Journey, 1923) and The Book of Things (poems by Hayim Nahman Bialik).
Read more about Tom Seidmann-Freud and her books at this website devoted to her.
cropped cover of Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
from Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
This image fascinates me.
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
Buch Der Hasengeschichten
via the Braunschweig University Library
cover of Die Fischreise (The Fish's Journey, 1923) via the Braunschweig University Library
This one was translated into English as Peregrin and the Goldfish (nearly as hard to find as the German editions): "One hot summer evening Peregrin fell asleep under a tree. He dreamed that he was walking along a street carrying a bowl, in which Nickeling, his pet goldfish, swam."
from Die Fischreise (The Fish's Journey, 1923) via the Braunschweig University Library
from Die Fischreise (The Fish's Journey, 1923) via the Braunschweig University Library
from Die Fischreise (The Fish's Journey, 1923) via the Braunschweig University Library
The cleanest copy of "The Book of Things" I could find was in my favorite Dutch archive:
mysterious squirrel cows
From Buch der Erfüllten Wünsche (Book of Fulfilled Wishes, 1929) via Ketterer Kunst
front cover of Das Zauberboot (The Magic Boat, 1930), via
From a translation of Das Zauberbook, via Ketterer Kunst
back cover of Das Zauberboot (The Magic Boat, 1930), via
from Das Wunderhaus
Hurra, wir rechnen! (Hurrah, We Are Counting!, 1931)
via Thomas Kümmel's klbkultur
Earlier this month BibliOdyssey featured Tom's very early illustrations (1914)
for a children's song book
See the full "Kinderbuch series" of German, Austrian, and Swiss children's books