The Three Robbers (German: Die drei Räuber) was published by Atheneum in New York in 1961. It is Tomi Ungerer’s most famous picture book — the one that established his distinctive visual style (bold, flat color fields; dramatic black silhouettes; sophisticated design influenced by commercial art and European poster traditions) and his characteristic moral vision (darkness and danger transformed by innocence and wit rather than vanquished by force).
Three fierce robbers — in tall black hats, wielding an axe, a blunderbuss, and a bellows filled with pepper — haunt the roads at night, terrifying travelers and accumulating treasure in a cave. They are genuinely frightening: Ungerer draws them as pure silhouettes against deep blue and black backgrounds, their faces invisible, their weapons prominent. They are not comic villains but actual threats.
Then they rob a coach carrying Tiffany, an orphan girl being sent to a wicked aunt. Tiffany is not frightened. She asks what they do with all their treasure. The robbers have never considered this question — they rob because that is what they do, accumulating gold without purpose. Tiffany gives them purpose: they use the treasure to build a village for abandoned and orphaned children. The robbers become benefactors. The children grow up and found a city. The three tall towers of the robbers’ castle become the city’s coat of arms.
Ungerer’s illustrations are revolutionary in their graphic boldness: no other picture book of 1961 looked like this. The palette is restricted (black, blue, red, yellow); the compositions are poster-like in their clarity; the figures are flat and stylized rather than naturalistic. The design owes more to Saul Bass and Swiss graphic design than to the pastoral watercolor tradition of children’s illustration. Ungerer proved that picture books could be visually sophisticated — could address children’s intelligence rather than their sentimentality.
Collecting The Three Robbers
First edition (Atheneum, New York, 1961): Cloth binding with pictorial boards. Illustrated by the author.
Market values:
- First edition (fine condition): $200–$500
- Good condition: $75–$150
- Signed first edition: $300–$700
- Later printings: $10–$25
Ungerer’s masterpiece and one of the great picture books. Fine first editions are scarce — children’s books suffer heavy use, and the binding design (pictorial boards without jacket) is vulnerable to wear.