“I’m very intricate and delicate. You can see that in my paintings. I love painters like Richard Dadd, Mucha and Dalí, and I love Arthur Rackham.”
Sold as Lot 1847 from the Crazy Little Things 1, Freddie Mercury owned 17 books connected with fairy tales, fantasy, mythology, and children’s illustration.
Patricia Allderidge
The Late Richard Dadd (1817-1886)
1974
Published for the Richard Dadd exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1974, archivist Patricia Allderidge explores the significance of almost every known painting and drawing by Richard Dadd (1817–1886).
A significant figure in the Victorian period, Richard Dadd was a talented artist whose work remained largely untouched by major developments in the second half of the century. Dadd’s painting The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke would inspire Mercury’s song of the same name.
Cicely Mary Barker
Flower Fairies of the Autumn 1925
A Flower Fairy Alphabet
1934
Flower Fairies of the Trees
1940
Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, English illustrator Cicely Mary Barker (1895–1973) developed her first Flower Fairies book in 1923 and enjoyed huge popularity due to Queen Mary’s well-known interest in fairy art. She later published seven more volumes of Flower Fairies. Barker painted from live models and botanical specimens, giving her fairy figures an unusual combination of realism and enchantment, akin to the approach of Beatrix Potter (1866–1943).
Explore Flower Fairies of the Autumn
Barbara Ninde Byfield
The Book of Weird
1973
The Book of Weird is a cult classic and a playful sourcebook for fantasy, fairy tales, and the occult. Illustrated by the author, the book provides an earnest but quirky guide to the fantastical, providing detailed definitions for nebulous subjects, and helpful guidance on what to do when faced with a gnome or dwarf, troll or ogre, elf or fairy.
Edmund Dulac
Stories from the Arabian Nights
1911
Picture-book for the French Red Cross
1913
Edmund Dulac (1882–1953) was a French-British naturalised magazine illustrator, book illustrator and stamp designer. In 1911, he illustrated a fantastic volume of English-language retellings of the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of South Asian and Middle Eastern folk tales compiled during the Islamic Golden Age. During the First World War, he illustrated relief books such as Picture-Book for the French Red Cross, which drew on classic tales from different cultures for the war relief effort.
Lord Dunsany
Gods, Men and Ghosts: The Best Supernatural Fiction of Lord Dunsany
Illustrated by Sidney Sime, 1972
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (1878–1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, a major influence on early fantasy writing, brought his distinctive mythic prose style to children’s literature. His anthology, Gods, Men and Ghosts: The Best Supernatural Fiction of Lord Dunsany helped shape 20th-century fantasy aesthetics and was admired by authors including Tolkien and Lovecraft.
Explore Gods, Men and Ghosts: The Best Supernatural Fiction of Lord Dunsany
Frank Frazetta
Fantastic Art
1975
Frank Frazetta (1928–2010) was an American artist known for themes of fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters and LP record album covers. Often referred to as the “Godfather of fantasy art”, this book catalogues Frazetta’s dynamic, muscular style, reshaping the visual vocabulary of heroic male figures such as Vikings and stone-men.
Brian Froud and Alan Lee
Faeries
1978
Written and illustrated by English artists Brian Froud and Alan Lee, Faeries is an illustrated compendium of faerie mythology, legends and folklore. First published in 1978, Faeries has since been translated into at least nine other languages, and was adapted into an animated television special of the same name in 1981.
Fred Gettings
Arthur Rackham
1975
This is a first edition copy of Fred Gettings’ study of the art and illustration of Arthur Rackham (1867–1939). Known as one of the best loved of all children’s book illustrators, Rackham produced illustrations filled with life, vigour and humour, turning his hand to children’s magazines, Shakespeare, Wagnerian tales, as well as traditional children’s favourites. His fertile imagination and deft technique made him a master of the miniature form, enabling him to represent activity in a small space.
Freddie Mercury’s copy sold at the Sotheby’s auction featured an inscription to Freddie by his sister Kashmira and her husband for his birthday, dated 1975.
Henry Gilbert
King Arthur’s Knights
Illustrated by Walter Crane
1911
Henry Gilbert (1868–1937) was an English writer best known for this retelling of King Arthur and his Knights. His retelling was designed to “fill a place hitherto vacant in the hearts of boys and girls”, choosing episodes where the knight’s courage, humility, faith would win through every peril.
King Arthur’s Knights features illustrations from Walter Crane (1845–1915). Crane was one of the leading illustrators of the Arts and Crafts movement, and his interpretations of Arthurian legend helped codify the era’s visual language of medieval romance.
David Greysmith
Richard Dadd: The Rock and Castle of Seclusion
1973
David Greysmith’s Richard Dadd: The Rock and Castle of Seclusion was the first full presentation of the strange life and unique work of the 19th-century artist, Richard Dadd.
Greysmith provides a full-scale account of his life, drawn from contemporary accounts, documents, family material, and other sources. It is also the first comprehensive examination of his pictures, illustrated here for the first time.
Joseph Jacobs
Celtic Fairy Tales
Illustrated by John D. Batten
1971 edition
Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916) was an Australian-born folklorist, literary critic and historian who became a notable collector and publisher on folklore.
Originally published in 1892, Celtic Fairy Tales features “best known folk-tales of the Celts”, with stories of romance, humour and sadness. These stories are brought to life with fantastical sketches by John D. Batten, capturing the wonder, witchcraft, and magic found in Celtic tales.
Welleran Poltarnees
All Mirrors are Magic Mirrors
1972
Welleran Poltarnees is the pen name of Harold Darling, an author who is best known for his “blessing books”. This pen name is based on two of Lord Dunsany’s most famous stories: The Sword of Welleran and Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean.
His book, All Mirrors Are Magic Mirrors – Reflections on Pictures Found in Children’s Books is a meditation upon children’s illustrations with examples by Arthur Rackham, Kate Greenaway and Maurice Sendak. Poltarnees explores themes including the realm of the faërie, domestic happiness and animals, as well as the relationship dynamics of authors and illustrators.
Richard Wagner
(trans. Margaret Armour)
Siegfried & Twilight of the Gods Illustrated by Arthur Rackham
1911
Translated by Margaret Armour (1860–1943), Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods is based on two final dramas from Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) by German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883). The cycle draws on characters and legends from Norse mythology and the Nibelungenlied, centring on a magical ring that grants power to rule the world.
Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) brings Wagner’s mythical universe to life with detailed, dreamlike visions of heroes, gods, and fantastical beasts.
Daniel O’Connor
The Peter Pan Picture Book
Illustrated by Alice B. Woodward
1930
The Peter Pan Picture Book, written by Daniel O’Connor (1880–1951), is based on the 1904 stage play Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1860–1937). Both adaptations tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly and embarks on countless adventures in Neverland, an island inhabited by mermaids, fairies, and pirates. The book is illustrated by Alice B. Woodward (1862–1951), one of the most prolific illustrators at the turn of the 20th century, celebrated for her work in both children’s literature and scientific illustrations.