ABSTRACT
The term abecedarius is a neologism created by Saint Augustin to describe the alphabetical psalms of the Bible. Dictionaries define the abecedary as a book for learning the alphabet and the rudiments of reading. The evolution of the abecedary is as closely tied to the development of popular instruction, encouraged by governmental politics, as it is to progress made in the reproduction possibilities of the images and the mechanization of printing methods. ' Abecedaries like A.B.C. de Babar by Jean de Brunhoff present a series of scenes which abound in items presenting acrophonic words of a specific letter. The role of the image is to surprise, fascinate, and stimulate the imagination. The first picturebooks of this type were the alphabets in a strip that are laid out to form a panorama that the child can look at in one glance.
