GNOMES AND FAIRIES

Illustration by Martha Gradisher from The Return of the Brownies by M.E. Heller

ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT GNOMES AND FAIRIES

It was 19th century children's writer and illustrator, Palmer Cox, who made the gnome the Scots called "Brownie" famous.

Some years ago, in Rochester New York's Strong Museum, we followed a young gift store buyer up and down the aisles of Margaret Strong's amazing collection of dolls and Victoriana.

"Here they are," the gift store buyer cried, as we came upon a case of one-hundred-year-old Palmer Cox Brownie artifacts. And there they were; those tiny chinless, oval-eyed, long-toed, skinny-legged, smiling, gnomes, their images printed and stamped upon everything from dolls and toy blocks to china plates and silverware.

"WHAT IS A BROWNIE?" the child with the doll would ask.

A children's book about the actual brownies characterized by 19th century writer and illustrator, Palmer Cox The magic of fairies is not an end in itself. Its virtue is in its operations. Among these are the satisfactions of certain primordial human desires, one of which is to survey the depths of time and space, and another is to hold communion with other living things.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
THE KING'S WEB SITE

featuring His Royal Higness' marquetry & music

Thirteen characters from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle Visit Marigold's book club.
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For more about the book, visit: celestinepress.com
copyright 2006 M.E. Heller All Rights Reserved