El Sombrerito

This series contains 67 samples of "Cuentos de Vigil para los ninos" (Vigil's Tales for Children) written and published by Constancio C. Vigil through his Editorial Atlántida imprint – representing a large majority of the stories he produced under this imprint. Though the works are undated, the artwork and print quality vary widely among the 67 works, indicating they were published at different times. Many of the issues contain a list of all available issues in the set, while some list only ten or so others. This reflects the marketing strategies of Editorial Atlántida, both during Vigil’s lifetime and following his death in 1954, in which new versions were constantly printed and often grouped into premium sets (e.g., “Coleccion Billiken”), raising their value as collectables or special gifts for children.

The works in this series are representative of Vigil’s work. They are moral fables whose characters are often children or anthropomorphized animals, making them more relatable to children. In these works honesty and hard work are rewarded, while laziness or cheating is punished. The series also contains works with Vigil’s most famous creations – the Watchmaker Monkey and the Traveling Ant.