first designs

Miffy (Nijntje “little rabbit” in Dutch) wasn’t supposed to be a girl from the beginning. It was when drawing the sixth book in 1970 that Bruna decided to give her a flowery dress. From 1963 onwards, when the books were first published in square format, she became the Miffy we know today, gazing confidently at the reader with her little, black eyes. She has two pointy ears and little chubby cheeks.

In “miffy’s dream” (1979) and all subsequent stories, her ears and face are slightly rounder and more balanced. Soon, her body became somewhat rounder and softer. After “miffy in the tent” (1995), her appearance remained pretty much the same until 2001, when the proportions of her head and body changed slightly, making her look more like toddler.

Dick Bruna also liked to keep his typography as simple as possible. That is why he always used a sans-serif typeface, ensuring that the letters don’t have any unnecessary curls or extensions. You won’t find any capital letters in his books and he kept punctuation to a minimum.

Dick Bruna’s earliest rectangular books, published before the square format was adopted in 1959, are now true collectors’ items! As a tribute to these first seven books (none of which will be reissued), the publishing company began numbering the square books at No. 8.