Of course, the true attraction comes in the wonderfully gruesome images Froud presents, of fairies sprawled at awkward angles, smooshed and squished with a particularly surprised look on their faces. The text is presented in an ever-improving scrawl on both pages of this faux journal.

Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book possesses a wicked sense of humor, and never takes itself too seriously, even as we follow the development of Angelica Cottington through her writings. She could very well be the friend of the girls who so cleverly took photographs of fairies and convinced doubters such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real. This book details her sightings and capturings between 18, as she grows up during the changing, romanticized times of Victorian England. To be blunt, she lured them in, and then SQUISH! between the pages, smooshed and dried like flowers. It’s presented, tongue-in-cheek, as a pastiche of the Victorian fairy craze, purporting to be the true journal of one Angelica Cottington, who pioneered a unique method of capturing and recording fairies in her journal. The first of these is Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book, written with Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame, also the screenwriter for Labyrinth).

(I weep for this misfortune, for the book truly is a work of art.) However, I do have three of Froud’s other offerings, which thoroughly show off his talent, his whimsy, and his skill at capturing the unknown which lurks all about us.

I was going to review it, until I discovered it had somehow, somewhere along the way, suffered severe water damage and was in no shape to be read. One of the best and earliest of these is simply entitled Faeries. Possibly best known for his design work (with his wife, Wendy Froud) on cult-favorite movies Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, he’s also released quite a few books of his own, both alone and with various collaborators. Brian Froud and Terry Jones’ Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Bookīrian Froud and Terry Jones’ Strange Stains and Mysterious Smellsīrian Froud and Terri Windling’s Good Faeries, Bad Faeriesīrian Froud is one of those artists whose magical designs and whimsical creations stay with you long after you turn the page.

Brian froud fairy