Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Noel Pocock, M. De V. Lee

Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.

1930

8 color plates
Inscription “Catherine | Christmas 1933 | From Daddy and Mother”

I am a sentimental collector. This is the book that started it all – my interest in illustrated magic, myth, and fairy tale books. It was owned by my mother and the first thing I pulled off our bookshelves when I learned how to read. These are not sugar-coated fairy tales or images. They both terrified and fascinated me as a very young reader – they still do.

I think the Brothers Grimm are relatively well-known so I would like to tell a bit about the illustrators of this book:
Ralph Noel Pocock (1878-1949) was a British illustrator who got his start by illustrating P. G. Wodehouse’s first two books in 1902 and 1903. He re-invented himself as a comic artist and an illustrator of fairy stories.

His 22 color plates for the British edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales published by Henry Frowde Hodder & Stoughton in 1913 were described as being influenced by Maxfield Parrish. “The simple settings of Pocock’s illustrations are enhanced by a canny use of lighting to add dimension in darkly wooded areas.” This 1930 American edition of the book contains only 8 of the 22 color illustrations.

Manning de Villeneuve Lee (1894-1980) was an American illustrator of primarily children’s books and publications. In this edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales his one-color illustration of “The Golden Goose” spans the front and back end sheets.

Kirkpatrick, Robert J. “R. Noel Pocock.” Bear Alley, 1 Jan. 1970, https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2017/12/r-noel-pocock.html.

Menges, Jeff A. Once upon a Time ...: A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tale Illustrations. Dover Publications, 2008.

Cheryl Ziegler