Violet Books
Illustrations by Norman Little
for Ethel M. Wilmot-Buxton's Faust & Marguerite
Death of Valentine
The devil plays his lyre for the deadly duel that serves as frontispiece to Ethel M. WIlmot-Buxton's retelling of the Faust legend in Faust & Marguerite (London: Thomas Nelson, 1912). There are in all eight of these delightful plates plus laminated pictorial cloth & decorative endpapers
Marguerite and the Jewels
Norman Little illustrated many Thomas Nelson editions of such authors as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Louisa May Alcott. There was beauty & drama to his work whether portraying demonic subjects like Mephistopheles or, as here, a soft and almost PreRephaelite moment with Marguerite in her humble boudoir.
Marguerite in the Cathedral
"'Air! The arch above is crushing me!' she gasped; but the only answer was that of the Evil Spirit . . . Gasping for air, she rose to escape the cathedral."
The Witches' Festival
"Look now, there it is again. Seest thou not far off, & shadow-like, a lovely girl -- almost a child -- with sweet, sad eyes, standing alone? Her feet are shackled -- she walks with mournful pace -- & her face is the face of Marguerite!"
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