Kay Nielsen - "Red Magic" (1930) [Spirit of the Ages Collection]

On the left, we show a rare copy of the 1st Edition of

Red Magic produced by Jonathon Cape (London) in 1930 -

Nielsen's final illustrated book.

This example retains the original unassuming red cloth cover.

On the right, the Title Page is shown with a design

contributed by Violet Brunton who had previously

illustrated Green Magic and Silver Magic.

Red Magic was the final illustrated book to include commissioned contributions from Kay Nielsen. It is a

collection of 20 fairy-tales compiled by Florence Roma Muir Wilson who was known by the literary

pseudonym of Romer Wilson. In addition to compiling the collection, Wilson also contributes through her

Introduction which is an informal discussion on the question of the origin of Dragons.

The tales collected by Wilson in this title include: "The Reward of Virtue"; "The Story of the Three Bears";

"Bluebeard"; Rich Peter the Pedlar"; "Hawk and Mole"; "A Child's Dream of a Star"; "Bean Flower and Pea

Blossom"; "The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse"; "King Uggermugger; or, The Princess Silver-Silk";

"The Bear and the Hunter's Stepson"; "At the Door"; "The Six Swans"; "The Enchanted Hind"; "Mrs Tabitha

Tortoiseshell"; "Bel and the Dragon"; "St George and the Dragon"; "The Dragon of Wantley"; "The Chimæra";

In both design and pure number, the combination of monotone and colour illustrations contributed by

Nielsen is sumptuous - with the colour images including gilt highlights. In particular, given Wilson's interest

in Dragons, Nielsen's various representations of the mythical reptiles and their opponents - including

These wonderful images are presented on the Greeting Cards as tipped-in plates - in homage to the hand-crafted

approach typical of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades of the 20th Century.

Hand-finishing is used to replicate the visual appearance of a tipped-in plate and the images are presented on

Ivory card stock (in the case of colour illustrations) or White card stock (in the case of monotone illustrations)

with an accompanying envelope. We have left the cards blank so that you may write your own personal

Should you wish to order a Reproduction Print of one or more of these images, we have provided some

options below. Of course, should you wish to discuss some customised options, we welcome your contact

Some say that the Great Whale, or Leviathan which swallowed Jonah, is the origin of Dragons; of whom seafaring men

reported that examples had been met with three hundred feet in length. In the ancient days there may have been whales

of this dimension. But I do not believe, however huge, that the whale was the original of the True Dragon, for the whale

has no wings, nor does he crawl along the ground. Dragons resemble dreadfully the Pterodactyl, a beast now mercifully

extinct, a "winged-fingered lizard, an order of flying reptile" who one haunted the Thames valley and other well-known

parts of the world, London and Paris even when those cities were mud huts. These horrible creatures were of all sizes from

that of a sparrow to that of a small aeroplane. The largest had wings twenty-five feet from tip to tip, and long powerful

jaws armed with teeth. The memory of man goes back far beyond what we imagine. I feel sure that our Dragon-stories

had their beginning in tales of the Stone Age when people really were devoured by enormous winged things, when a man

really was heroic who rid the countryside of one of these terrors. The memory of anything so frightful would be handed

down from one generation to another until it was written, and, once written, it was no more a memory, but a record of

an ancient recollection, embroidered upon, decorated to suit the taste of the age, but at bottom, the same old tale, the

story of a man who killed a singed snake and was made a prince of the Tribe in honour of the deed.

Other dragonish beings are told of beside the True Dragon. There was the Basilisk who slew men with a glance; and the

Chimæra of the Greeks with a head like lion, another like a goat, and the third like a huge snake. The chimæra has come

to mean an imaginary thing, a mistaken idea, and doubtless such a strange beast never existed. Another unlikely dragon is

the marsh snake or Hydra which had nine heads and grew another nine for every one cut off. It also was a Greek. Then

there was the Scandinavian snake Nidhögg that lay under the root of the world-tree Yggdrawil and gnawed it away. And

last and greatest of all, still believed in by some people, is the great sea-serpent that wallows round the world. He has "been

seen," usually in summer-time by townsfolk at the seaside. I have seen him too, curveting and rolling through the waves in

the Mediterranean, but he turned out to be a school of Dolphins, merrily swimming one after another with their curious

And a school of porpoises or dolphins I dare say the greatest sea-serpent proved to be, and always will prove to be.

Credulous townsmen like to return home with great adventures behind them, and many a poor conger or porpoise has

Send mail to ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2007 Spirit of the Ages Last modified: 11/23/09

Send mail to ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2007 Spirit of the Ages
Last modified: 11/23/09