Violet Books

Half-Pint Jinni & Other Stories by Maurice Dolbier (New York: Random House, 1948) is one of those "children's" books equally suited for adults, illustrated throughout by Allan Thomas. In the title story, a fisherboy draws a bottle from the sea, discovering a jinni therein. "True-Bill and False-Beak" regards two remarkable birds, one that speaks only truth, the other only falsehoods. Other of these Arabian Nights styled gems regard a princess who sought to possess the moon, a prince transformed into a camel. There's also a tale of Captain Jett Powers, the hero of "Completely Incredible Comics," and a story about what happens with a common 20th Century object finds its way into the courtyard of a 12th Century sorcerer.

Seumas O'Brien's The Whale and the Grasshopper and Other Fables ( Boston: Little Brown, 1916) has a marvelous pictorial binding of the titular whale and grasshopper among shamrocks. These are entirely adult fantasy shorts set during the fin de siecle Celtic Twilight and in ancient Ireland. Fairy figures such as the White Horse of Banba, Black Dog of Doonisky, the Moon Lady, & the Devil, together with sundry wild beasts, speak and interact with humanity.

Fiona Macleod was the pseudonym of William Sharp, one of the key figures of the Celtic Twilight. Macleod became so great a persona in Sharp's life that he came to believe she was a separate entity; and indeed, nothing he wrote under his own name was ever so brilliant. The Laughter of Peterkin, A Retelling of Old Tales of the Celtic Wonderland (London: Constable, 1897) is beautifully illustrated in the art nouveau style by Sunderland Rollinsons. The stories though suitable for reading to particularly bright children are hardly less sophisticated than the many Macleod books written chiefly for adults.

Alice Brown was one of the great New England regionalists. In addition to her many collections of "local color" village tales, she published a single collection of literary fairy tales, The One Footed Fairy and Other Stories (London: Constable; Boston: Little Brown, 1912). The frontispiece depicts a lovely dancing fairy-ring, drawn by Ann Merriman Peck. There are many other fine black and white plates by other artists. Alice Brown has sufficient uncollected fairy tales in magazines, she might have published one more big collection; who can say why she never did.

Arthur Scott Bailey's The Tale of Betsy Butterfly (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1918) has a beautiful dustwrapper illustration and frontispiece signed H.L.S. plus pictorial endpapers by a different artist. This is a "Beasts in Britches" novella or chain of shorts reminiscent of Thornton Burgess. We meet not only Betsy Butterfly but also Jasper Jay, Peter Mink, Freddie Firefly, Solomon Owl, Mehitabel Moth, Daddy Longlegs and all the other charming bugs and beasts of Pleasant Valley.

Flutterfly by Clara Louise Burnham (London: Gay & Hancock, 1910) sports a pictorial binding and four pastel color plates by Emily Hall Chamberlain. In this fairy novella a rowdy princess who dresses up like a prince has adventures in Freezeland and such places. The surprisingly modern underlying theme is almost a "lesson" for parents to accept the wilder traits in their little girls and not to exile them to scarey places for boyish disobediences. But if parents are too stupid to know this, chances are that the exiled girl will have a pretty fun time adventuring among the fairies.

Theodore Acland Harper's The Mushroom Boy (Philadelphia: Penn Publishing, 1924) is a fairy novel, or chain of fairy shorts in a frame story. The jacket tells us, "To be a mushroom boy is to see with one's imagination. When you have learned to do this, any sort of adventure may happen, even such fantastic occurrences as David." It would seem unlikely that anything of this nature, after Lewis Caroll, would only "accidentally" allude to the imaginative possibilities of psychedelic mushrooms! Handsomely illustrated by Florenz Clark.

What all these fairy tale collections have in common is that they are literary examples invented by the authors, not retold tales. This one's When Fairies Were Friendly by Evaleen Stein (Boston: The Page Company, 1922), published for Christmas with the first two tales relating to that holiday and the last ending on the New Year. The binding design and interior illustrations are by Thelma Couch.

Here's a rare and beautiful children's book with both color and black and white illustrations throughout, Bobbie Bubbles (Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, 1916). The stunningly imaginative illustrations are by E. Hugh Sherwood, and the story is co-authored by Sherwood and Maud Gridley Budlong. One of the few intergalactic fairy tales, the mystical magical bubble takes Bobbie on visits to the Moon, to a city of winged fairy-men on a planet far out in the Milky Way, and other celestial fairy-locations, where Bobbie is even menaced by a sentient comet.

David Cory's series of "Little Journeys to Happyland" included The Magic Soap Bubble (New York: Grossett and Dunlap, 1922). The titular bubble is the vehicle by which Ned reaches Happyland where he experiences an array of wild adventures through ten short stories. Besides the color binding, there are a huge number of black & white interiors likewise by E. I. Jones and P. H. Webb.

S. Ten Eyck Bourke wrote a lovely collection of fantasies about birds, Fables in Feathers (New York: Corwell, 1907), answering such puzzles as "Why the Peacock Wears Eyes on His Tail" and "Why the Owl Can't See in the Sun," all set "once upon a time, long, long ago," and in which King Solomon figures repeatedly. The color pictorial binding depicting Solomon, and the interior black and white plates, are by J. M. Conde.

Fergus Hume's very rare The Chronicles of Fairyland: Fantastic Fables for Old and Young (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1893) like most literary fairy tales consisted of "family" stories meant to appeal to all ages rather than just to kids. Fergus placed Fairyland "between the Kingdom of Shadows and the Country of the Giants" and peppers the colorful stories with very singable verses. The binding and numerous interior illustraitons are by M. Dunlop.