Violet Books

      

"A human being in miniature was coming up out of the iris." This plate by Homer Boss is one of four in The Adventures of Maya the Bee (New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1922), an often mystical & exceedingly lovely fairy novel by Waldemare Bonsels. The book also has an embossed pictorial binding

      

"'That, O King, is a lie as big as yourself!' exclaimed Sampo." A plate by Frank Pape from The Diamond Fairy Book (Hutchinson, 1897), an anthology of literary fairy tales having 8 Pape illustration plates in full color plus 82 black&white drawings by H. R. Millar. The specific story here illustrated is "How Sampo Lappelill saw the Mountain King" from the Swedish of Z. Topelius. There are also fairy tales from the German of Wilhelm Hauf, Clemens Brentano & others, the French of J. Jarry & others, & of course English authors such as "Pleydell North" (Mrs. Egerton Eastwick).

   

Laurence Housman most often illustrated his fairy tale books himself, with assistance with his sister Clemence who engraved her brother's designs. But for Turn Again Tales (Holt, 1932) a large number of illustrators were assigned specific stories to illustrate. This example is by Alec Buckles for the tale of "The Open Door." Most of the illustrations are black&white but six are tipped-in & full color.

      

Frances Browne was a blind Irishwoman whose classic fairy tale collection Granny's Wonderful Chair has had a gazillion distinct editions & helped shape the fashion for Victorian fairy tales to follow. One of the stories was "swiped" by Frances Hodgson Burnett who read it as a child & grew up to accidentally write her own version, "Prince Fairy-foot." The present illustration plate comes from the Macmillan, 1924, edition blessed with pictorial endpapers, black&white illustrations & color plates by Emma L. Brock.

      

 

Return to Classic Illustration Museum Index

Site Navigation: | Art Gallery | Essays | Bibliographies | Special Interests | | Announcements | Home | | Catalog | Contact Violet Books | Visit Also: | My Film Review Website | | My Temperate Gardening Website | Copyright © by Jessica Amanda Salmonson