O Stars and Dreams and Gentle Night

Storybook Kingdoms and Slightly Dramatic Adventures

This week, we’re wandering into the storybook kingdom of Peter and the Princess by Carl H. Grabo, with illustrations by John R. Neill and published in Chicago by Reilly & Lee in 1920. The book arrives straight out of that early 20th-century moment when fairy tales were becoming increasingly playful, visual, and delightfully theatrical.

Carl H. Grabo (1881-1955) was primarily known as a literary scholar, specializing in poetry and Romantic literature. This makes his turn toward fairy tales feel a little unexpected, in the best possible way. There is something charming about a serious scholar stepping briefly into the world of castles, adventure, and fairytale imagination. The story itself carries many familiar fairytale ingredients, royalty, quests, danger, and enchantment, but with the lighter, more whimsical tone that children’s literature of the 1920s often embraced.

The illustrations are by John R. Neill (1877-1943), whose work helped define the look of fantasy for generations of readers. Neill is best remembered today for his work on L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, where his swirling linework, expressive characters, and elaborate decorative details helped shape the visual identity of Oz itself. After Baum’s death, Neill even went on to write and illustrate additional Oz titles of his own.

This is exactly the kind of fairytale that feels designed for rainy afternoons and dramatic reading voices. Between Grabo’s storybook adventure and Neill’s gloriously detailed illustrations, the whole thing has the energy of a kingdom where absolutely everything is slightly more theatrical than necessary, which, personally, I fully support.

--Melissa (who thinks adventures are always improved by elaborate costumes and questionable decisions), Distinctive Collections Library Assistant 

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~ Louis-Emile Adan, The Reading (detail)

The Flower Princess by Abbie Farwell Brown (1904)

Unknown illustrator, possible initials R. H. S. or some variation thereof (bottom right corner of title page).

Firebirds, Forests, and Fairytale Logic

This week, we’re following the firebird deep into the forest with Russian Fairy Tales, published in New York by Golden Press in 1960 as part of their Giant Golden Book series. Inside are five classic Russian tales, including Prince Ivan and the Firebird, Vassilissa the Beautiful, and The Frog Princess, stories shaped by forests, enchantment, impossible tasks, and that very particular fairytale logic where a talking frog barely raises an eyebrow.

The translation is by Marie Ponsot (1921-2019), an American poet, essayist, literary critic, teacher, and translator whose work bridged scholarship and lyricism. Her career was widely honored with awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and the Robert Frost Poetry Award.

The illustrations are by Gianni (Giovanni) Benvenuti (1926-2005), an Italian artist whose career spanned painting, sculpture, printmaking, illustration, and cartooning, and who earned recognition across both Europe and the United States. Though his work moved across many forms, he is especially remembered for his children’s book illustrations, including Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Mother Goose.

Russian fairy tales have long held a distinctive place in folklore traditions. Their worlds are dense with forest, fire, winter, and transformation; their characters are tested not only by magic, but by wit, resilience, and moral choice. Figures like Vassilissa endure because they are not passive dreamers; they move through danger, solve riddles, and survive through intelligence as much as courage.

-Melissa (who believes fairytales are best when things get a little strange) Distinctive Collections Library Assistant

-View previous Fairytale Friday posts