THE FAIRY CIRCUS
Book Details + Condition: The Macmillan Company (New York). Scarce First Edition, 1931. Famously and magically illustrated by author Dorothy P. Lathrop. Hardcover measuring 9.5" x 8.25". 66 pages. In the book, the fairies, enchanted by a human circus that visits their meadow, put on a circus of their own with the woodland creatures. Dorothy Pulis Lathrop, often referred to as the forgotten Illustrator, was born April 16, 1891. One of the most influential and important illustrators of children's books in the 1930s and '40s, she began her career in 1918. At that time she was a 27-year-old teacher of art in Albany. Lathrop, her sister, and her mother were all strict vegetarians and animal activists – possibly a result of the multitude of pets at their home. Dorothy illustrated many books, almost one every year, after 1919. The first children’s book she illustrated was THE FAIRY CIRCUS, which she authored as well. Her style is known to be very delicate. Dorothy died in 1980 as a decorated artist, having won the Newberry Medal and the Caldecott Medal. A solid and clean copy of a scarce first edition, with wear to cloth covered boards; bumped corners and rubbed edges, with some fraying to cloth; cloth on spine ends beginning to come off; intermittent foxing present (mainly on first and last pages, lighter elsewhere), including on white borders of images; repaired tear on bottom of title page; "discard" stamp on endpapers; scuffing to rear endpapers.
