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Old French fairy tales (c1920)

Author: Ségur, Sophie, comtesse de, 1799-1874; Sterrett, Virginia Frances
Subject: Fairy tales
Publisher: Philadelphia, The Penn publishing company
Year: 1920
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: ucb_banc:GLAD-67225873
Digitizing sponsor: MSN
Book contributor: University of California Libraries
Collection: americana; cdl; iacl

Description

A wonderful book with 5 timeless French fairy tales magnificently illustrated with 8 beautiful and dramatic full page color and many black and white drawings by Virginia Frances Sterrett. "Done when she was only 19 years of age, this was Sterrett's (Chicago born) first book, and she is often referred to as the 'female Kay Nielsen'."

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Reviewer: Sardonique Schadenfreude Rictus - - June 16, 2008
Subject: A great and young talent:V.F.Sterrett !
The tales by Madame la Comtesse de Ségur in this book are as lovely as they are uncommon in English. The illustrations, however, are absolutely breathtaking! Mix Kay Nielsen with Arthur Rackham and a dash of Harry Clarke, add the Fashion-Design and dramatic aesthetic sense of Léon Bakst of the Ballet Russes, and you have a rough idea of just exactly how sublime these illustrations are! The faces and physiognomy of the women subjects in the illustrations seem to have had some influence on the fantasy illustrator Mahlon Blaine (specifically his 'Venus Sardonica' and 'Nova Venus', as well as other of his erotic works, though the Sterrett illustrations are not overtly erotic in the least, just wonderfully pleasing to the eye).

I once saw this book in person at a bookshop in Palo Alto, but couldn't afford it at the time. It is absolutely miraculous that I can now possess it in PDF form forever (though I will still buy the original, should I encounter it again)! This is book design as high art. Very Highly Recommended !!!! Sublime !!!!

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