The Wild, Weird, and Wonderful

The Wild, Weird, and Wonderful The Wild: Middle English wilde, from Old English; akin to Old High German wildi wild, Welsh gwyllt. Meaning untamed.

The Weird: Old English wyrd ‘destiny’, of Germanic origin. The adjective (late Middle English) originally meant ‘having the power to control destiny’, and was used especially in the Weird Sisters, originally referring to the Fates, later the witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth ; the latter use gave rise to the sense ‘unearthly’ (early 19th century). The Wonderful: Old English word wundor, which means "marvelous thing" or "object of astonishment."

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi created “Mount Yoshino Midnight-Moon: Iga no Tsubone” in January 1886. The color woodblock print was...
08/23/2026

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi created “Mount Yoshino Midnight-Moon: Iga no Tsubone” in January 1886. The color woodblock print was published by Akiyama Buemon as part of Yosh*toshi’s series “One Hundred Aspects of the Moon,” issued between 1885 and 1892. This impression is in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England.

The story is set during the troubled reign of Emperor Go-Daigo in the 14th century. According to the legend, the courtier Sasaki Kiyotaka urged the emperor to fight the forces of Ashikaga Takauji against the advice of the general Kusunoki Masashige. After the disastrous Battle of Minatogawa in 1336, Masashige killed himself, the emperor fled to Mount Yoshino, and Kiyotaka was forced to take his own life. His angry ghost then haunted the exiled court, terrifying the courtiers until Iga no Tsubone, Masashige’s daughter-in-law, confronted it. She showed no fear and drove the ghost away.

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi (1839–1892) was born in Edo, now Tokyo, and entered the studio of Utagawa Kuniyoshi while still a boy. Working as a designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and as a painter and draftsman, Yosh*toshi became known for historical subjects, warriors, actors, supernatural tales, and scenes of violence. “One Hundred Aspects of the Moon” became his most successful and famous print series, with buyers reportedly lining up before dawn for new designs. His later work also included “New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts.” Yosh*toshi died in Tokyo in 1892.

Books featuring Tsukioka Yosh*toshi’s work can be found at the link in comments.

Jennie Harbour created this illustration for “The White Fawn” in “My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales,” edited by Edric Vre...
08/22/2026

Jennie Harbour created this illustration for “The White Fawn” in “My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales,” edited by Edric Vredenburg and published by Raphael Tuck & Sons around 1921. The book contains 12 full-page color plates by Harbour, including this one, as well as numerous black-and-white illustrations. The illustrations were reproduced as lithographs and photomechanical process prints.

“The White Fawn” is based on Madame d’Aulnoy’s 1698 fairy tale “La Biche au bois” (“The Hind in the Wood”). Princess Desirée is warned from birth that she must not see daylight before her fifteenth birthday. When Prince Guerrier falls in love with her portrait, Desirée agrees to travel to him before the birthday, hidden from the sun inside a darkened carriage. But her jealous maid Longue Epine wants Guerrier for herself. At her urging, her mother cuts open the carriage covering in broad daylight. Desirée sees the sun and instantly becomes a white fawn, fleeing into the forest.

Fairy Tulip cannot completely undo the enchantment, but she allows Desirée to regain her human form each night. Meanwhile Guerrier, convinced that he has been cruelly deceived about the princess he loves, leaves his court in despair and wanders into the same forest. There he becomes fascinated by a beautiful white fawn, never realizing that she is Desirée. During one pursuit he wounds the fawn with an arrow. That night, his companion discovers the truth: the wounded fawn has become the princess again. Guerrier finally meets the woman whose portrait he had loved, and when morning comes, Desirée does not turn back into a fawn. The enchantment is over, and they marry.

Jennie Harbour (1893–1959) was born in London. By 1919 she was working for Raphael Tuck & Sons, creating art for books, postcards and calendars. She became especially known for fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme illustration and worked in both color and black-and-white. Her books included “My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales,” Hans Christian Andersen stories and collections of nursery rhymes. Harbour died in 1959.

This link will take you to books illustrated by Jennie Harbour: https://bookshop.org/lists/jennie-harbour

This illustration by Hungarian artist W***y Pogány appeared in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Marine...
08/22/2026

This illustration by Hungarian artist W***y Pogány appeared in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” published in London by George G. Harrap & Co. in 1910. Pogány designed the entire book, including its calligraphic text, decorative borders, black-and-white drawings, and twenty mounted color plates.

Coleridge’s poem follows a sailor who stops a man on his way to a wedding and compels him to hear the story of a disastrous voyage. After inexplicably shooting an albatross that had followed his ship, the Mariner brings catastrophe upon the crew. The wind dies, the sailors suffer from thirst, and one by one they die, leaving him alone among their bodies. His punishment begins to lift only when he looks upon the sea creatures around the ship and blesses them without intending to. Rain comes, the ship moves again, and benevolent spirits animate the bodies of the dead sailors to help bring the vessel home. The Mariner survives, but at unpredictable moments an overwhelming agony compels him to tell his story again. Through his endless retelling, he carries the lesson that humans should love all creatures, great and small.

W***y Pogány (1882–1955) was born in Szeged, Hungary. He studied at Budapest Technical University and at art schools in Munich and Paris before moving to London, where he became a successful book illustrator. His elaborate gift books included “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” followed by illustrated editions of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser,” “Parsifal,” and “Lohengrin.” Pogány later moved to the United States, where he expanded his work beyond books, designing sets and costumes for the Metropolitan Opera and working in theater and film. He illustrated and designed more than 150 books during his career and died in New York City in 1955.

Books featuring Pogány’s work can be found at the link in comments.

This color illustration by British artist George Sheringham depicts a scene at Garble’s from Max Beerbohm’s “The Happy H...
08/22/2026

This color illustration by British artist George Sheringham depicts a scene at Garble’s from Max Beerbohm’s “The Happy Hypocrite.” The plate is captioned “In a Box at Garble’s.” It appeared in the Sheringham-illustrated edition published in London by John Lane, The Bodley Head, with twenty-four color plates and additional decorative work by Sheringham.

Lord George Hell is a wealthy and thoroughly disreputable young aristocrat. At Garble’s, an outdoor theater and pleasure garden, he sees the beautiful young dancer Jenny Mere and falls in love with her. When he asks her to marry him, Jenny refuses because she will marry only a man with the face of a saint. George goes to a mask-maker and buys a mask with the beautiful, virtuous face Jenny desires. Wearing it, he wins her love and marries her. But living as the good man he has only pretended to be gradually changes him. When a former lover finally tears away the mask to expose his deception, George’s own face underneath has become identical to the saintly face of the mask. The hypocrite has become the man he pretended to be.

George Sheringham (1884–1937) was born in London and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and in Paris. He worked as a painter, illustrator, theater designer, textile designer, and decorator, bringing his highly ornamental style to books, stage productions, interiors, posters, fabrics, and fans. His book work included Max Beerbohm’s “The Happy Hypocrite,” and he later designed scenery and costumes for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. In 1931, he decorated the ballroom at Claridge’s. In 1936, he became one of the first Royal Designers for Industry, honored for his work in interior decoration and textiles. He died in London in 1937.

Books featuring Sheringham’s work can be found at the link in comments.

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi created “The Spirit of Akugenta Yoshihira Strikes Nanba Jirō during Kiyomori’s Visit to Nunobiki Wat...
08/22/2026

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi created “The Spirit of Akugenta Yoshihira Strikes Nanba Jirō during Kiyomori’s Visit to Nunobiki Waterfall” in 1868. The work is a triptych of color woodblock prints, made with ink and color on paper, and this impression is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Minamoto no Yoshihira was a young warrior defeated in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. He was captured and beheaded by Nanba Jirō, but according to legend, before his ex*****on Yoshihira vowed to return as a thunderbolt and kill him. Years later, Nanba accompanied his lord, Taira no Kiyomori, to Nunobiki Waterfall near present-day Kobe. Yoshihira kept his promise: his vengeful spirit appeared during a storm and lightning struck Nanba, killing him. Yosh*toshi shows the supernatural attack itself, with the bloodied Nanba hanging upside down beneath Yoshihira’s ghost while Kiyomori prepares to draw his sword.

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi (1839–1892) was born in Edo, now Tokyo, and entered the studio of the celebrated woodblock artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi while still a boy. Working as a designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and as a painter and draftsman, Yosh*toshi became known for historical subjects, warriors, actors, supernatural tales, and scenes of violence. His later work included the celebrated series “One Hundred Aspects of the Moon” and “New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts.” His career stretched across the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the rapid modernization of the Meiji period. Yosh*toshi died in Tokyo in 1892.

Books featuring Tsukioka Yosh*toshi’s work can be found at the link in comments.

James Herbert MacNair painted “Tamlaine” in 1905, taking his subject from the traditional Scottish ballad better known a...
08/21/2026

James Herbert MacNair painted “Tamlaine” in 1905, taking his subject from the traditional Scottish ballad better known as “Tam Lin.” Painted in watercolor on vellum, the work is now in the collection of Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, in Ireland.

In the ballad, Janet goes to Carterhaugh, a real place near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders, where she meets Tam Lin and becomes pregnant by him. Tam Lin tells her that he is human but was taken by the Queen of the Fairies, and that he fears being given as the fairies’ tribute to Hell. He tells Janet how to rescue him. On Halloween night, she waits for the fairy procession, pulls Tam Lin from his horse, and holds onto him as the fairies transform him into a succession of terrifying forms. Finally he becomes a burning brand, which Janet throws into a well. Tam Lin emerges as a human man, and Janet covers him with her green mantle, breaking the fairies’ hold over him. The furious Fairy Queen has lost him.

James Herbert MacNair (1868–1955) was born in Glasgow. He trained as an architect with Honeyman and Keppie, where he met Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and attended evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art. MacNair, Mackintosh, Margaret Macdonald, and Frances Macdonald became known as “The Four” and helped develop the Glasgow Style. MacNair worked in watercolor, furniture design, book illustration, bookplates, and posters. He married Frances Macdonald in 1899, and the couple exhibited their work in Britain and continental Europe. After her death in 1921, MacNair largely withdrew from artistic life. He died in 1955.

This illustration by Arthur Rackham depicts Cinderella on her way to the ball in Charles Perrault’s "Cinderella." It was...
08/21/2026

This illustration by Arthur Rackham depicts Cinderella on her way to the ball in Charles Perrault’s "Cinderella." It was created for "The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book: A Book of Old Favourites with New Illustrations," published by George G. Harrap & Co. in London in 1933. The book contained eight full-page color plates and sixty black-and-white drawings by Rackham.

After her father remarries, Cinderella is forced to serve her stepmother and two stepsisters while they live in comfort. When the king’s son gives a ball, Cinderella helps her stepsisters prepare but is left behind. Her fairy godmother transforms a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses, and Cinderella’s rags into magnificent clothes, warning that the magic will end at midnight. Cinderella captivates the prince at the ball, but on the second night she loses track of time and flees as the clock strikes twelve, leaving behind one of her glass slippers. The prince searches for the woman whose foot fits the slipper. When he finds Cinderella, she produces its mate, and the two are married.

Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) was born in London and became one of the leading illustrators of the Golden Age of British book illustration. Working primarily in pen and ink and watercolor, he illustrated books including "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. For "The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book," he selected many of the stories himself and created a new group of illustrations for the volume. He died in Limpsfield, Surrey, in 1939.

Books featuring Arthur Rackham's work can be found at the link in comments.

This 1921 color illustration by Austrian artist Franz von Bayros depicts Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta from Ca...
08/21/2026

This 1921 color illustration by Austrian artist Franz von Bayros depicts Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta from Canto V of Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno.” It appeared in Bayros’s illustrated three-volume edition of “The Divine Comedy,” published by Amalthea-Verlag in 1921 with Italian and German text and mounted color plates.

Dante encounters Francesca and Paolo in the second circle of Hell, where those overcome by lust are swept endlessly through a violent wind. Francesca tells Dante that she was married to Paolo’s brother, but she and Paolo fell in love. One day, while reading together about the adulterous love of Lancelot and Guinevere, they kissed. According to the tradition surrounding their story, Francesca’s husband discovered the lovers and killed them both. Dante is so overcome by Francesca’s account that he faints at the end of the canto.

Franz von Bayros (1866–1924) was born in Zagreb, then part of the Austrian Empire, and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. An illustrator, painter, and graphic artist, he became known for highly decorative bookplates and illustrations, particularly his elaborate and often erotic work. His best-known publications include the provocative portfolio “Tales at the Dressing Table.” After periods in Vienna and Munich, he returned to Vienna, where he spent the later years of his career. Bayros devoted enormous effort to his illustrations for Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” published only a few years before his death. He died in Vienna in 1924.

Aubrey Beardsley created this original drawing for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” in 1894. The Chicago publisher Ston...
08/21/2026

Aubrey Beardsley created this original drawing for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” in 1894. The Chicago publisher Stone & Kimball had commissioned him to create eight designs for a new American edition of Poe’s works; he completed four. Prints made from the drawings were issued separately in portfolios accompanying some deluxe copies of the edition in 1895–96. Made with pen, brush, and India ink over graphite, the original drawing measures 10 by 6 3/8 inches (25.4 by 16.2 cm) and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Poe’s “The Black Cat,” first published in 1843, is narrated by a condemned man explaining the events that led to his ex*****on. Once fond of animals, he becomes increasingly violent and kills his beloved black cat, Pluto. Later he brings home another black cat but grows to hate and fear it. When he tries to kill the cat with an axe, his wife intervenes, and he kills her instead. He conceals her body behind a cellar wall and believes he has escaped detection. When police search the house, he confidently strikes the wall with his cane. A cry answers from inside. The police tear down the wall and discover his wife’s co**se, with the missing cat perched on her head.

Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) was born in Brighton, England, and began working as a clerk in London while studying art in evening classes. Encouraged by Edward Burne-Jones, he pursued art professionally and rapidly became one of the most distinctive illustrators of the 1890s. He illustrated Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte Darthur” and Oscar Wilde’s “Salome,” and served as art editor of “The Yellow Book.” Beardsley worked primarily in black-and-white drawing, using pen and ink and bold areas of black and white that reproduced effectively in print. His elegant, sometimes grotesque and erotic work became closely associated with the Decadent movement and helped shape the visual language of Art Nouveau. He suffered from tuberculosis from a young age and died in Menton, France, in 1898, at age 25.

Books featuring Aubrey Beardsley’s work can be found at the link in comments.

This illustration by Elenore Abbott comes from “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1920. Abbo...
08/20/2026

This illustration by Elenore Abbott comes from “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1920. Abbott chose the stories for the collection and created 12 color plates. This one illustrates “The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces,” better known as “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.”

A king has twelve daughters whose shoes are mysteriously worn through every morning, although their bedroom is locked each night. He promises that whoever discovers their secret may marry one of them and inherit the kingdom. After several men fail, a wounded soldier accepts the challenge. With an invisibility cloak given to him by an old woman, he secretly follows the princesses through a passage beneath the eldest sister’s bed. They travel through enchanted forests with silver, gold, and diamond leaves, cross a lake, and reach a castle where twelve princes wait to dance with them. After following them for three nights, the soldier presents the king with branches and a golden cup as proof. The princesses confess, and the soldier chooses the eldest as his wife and becomes heir to the kingdom.

Elenore Plaisted Abbott (1875–1935) was born in Lincoln, Maine. She studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and later studied and exhibited in Paris. After returning to Philadelphia, she studied with illustrator Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute. Working primarily in watercolor, Abbott became known for her book and magazine illustrations, including work for “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” “Treasure Island,” “Kidnapped,” and “An Old-Fashioned Girl.” She also painted portraits and landscapes and worked as a scenic designer. Abbott died in 1935.

Books featuring Elenore Abbott’s work can be found at the link in comments.

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