Reginald and Horace Knowles Collection at Spirit of the Ages

Throughout the page that follows, we have presented a selection of vintage images from both Reginald Knowles

We have developed a range of Giftware that includes images reproduced from the 1st Edition plates in our collection

to ensure the most accurate form, line and colour possible. We have utilised a high definition capture and reproduction

technique for the images - in contrast to the low definition representation necessary for this website. The illustrations

are available as cards, infants' clothing, T-shirts and unmatted, matted or framed prints (8x6", 10x8", 12x10", 15x10" and

30 x 20" images sizes). Pricing starts at US$4 for single Gift Cards (US$18 for select packs of 6) and 10 x 8" prints

(double-matted and framed) begin at US$60. Further details on those reproduction images are available at the Giftware

with the Stock Code of the plate, or plates in question and a brief description (and rest assured, we do accept payment

In the meantime, enjoy browsing our selection of genuine vintage and antique plates.

Reginald Knowles (1879-1950) was a book designer and illustrator who worked with his brother, Horace Knowles,

on a number of exquisite illustrated books in the first two decades of the 20th Century, including Legends from Fairyland (1907),

While both brothers usually share equal credit, it is understood that most of the colour illustrations and detailed monotone

The Art Nouveau, Fantasy and Gothic Revival imagery captured in the illustrations by Knowles is magnificent.

A rare copy of Legends from Fairy Land by Holme Lee (the pseudonym used by Harriet Parr) - illustrated by Reginald and Horace Knowles - as co-jointly published by Chatto & Windus (London) and J B Lippincott Co. (Philadelphia) in 1907.

This copy shows the original decoratively gilt-stamped maroon

leather cover.

On the left, is the front cover is the side cover design.

Legends from Fairy Land is a work from the Victorian Era writer Harriet Parr (1828-1900), who, due to British moraes of the period,

wrote under the pseudonym of Home Lee. This version of Parr's work is sumptuously decorated by Reginald Knowles and his brother,

Horace Knowles, who depict the history of Price Glee and Princess Trill, misadventures of Aunt Spite, tales of The Great Tuflongbo

Prior to distribution of Legends from Fairy Land, expectations for the book were reported in The New York Times of

"Legends from Fairyland," by Holme Lee, will be remembered with delight by the older generation, and

these will be glad to hear that a new edition is in preparation for early publication by the J. B. Lippincott

Company. The author, whose real name was Harriet Parr, is best remembered for her work on "The Life

and Death of Jeanne D'Arc," and for a number of novels which saw the light in fifties, sixties and seventies.

This new issue of the fairytales will be elaborately illustrated by drawing, 250 in number, by Reginald L.

Knowles and Horace J. Knowles. It will also have an introduction by Effie H. Freemantle.

A century after publication of Legends from Fairy Land, the illustrations by the Reginald Knowles and his brother, Horace Knowles

As you consider the images that follow, keep in mind the closing thoughts of Effie Freemantle from her Introduction to

Dear little children, be pure as the lilies, sweet as the rose, gentle as the butterflies; and, above all, soar

with the lark, - then truly your path through Shadowland and Sheneland will lead you into Fairy Land

A rare copy of Norse Fairy Tales - illustrated by Reginald and Horace Knowles and published by George Routledge & Sons Limited (London) in 1910.

This copy shows the original pictorial hardback covers.

On the left, is the front cover and to the right, detail from the rear cover.

Knowles' artwork for the front and rear covers is derived from the following passage from the tale, "The Cat on the Doverfell":

Then the White Bear rose up and growled, and hunted the whole pack of them out of doors, both great and small.

Norse Fairy Tales is a selection and adaptation from translations of traditional Norse tales prepared by Sir George Webbe Dasent.

The selection, prepared by F J Simmons, includes fifty-five fairy tales. Among those stories are: "East o' the Sun and West o' the

Moon"; "Why the Sea is Salt"; "The Princess on the Glass Hill"; "The Mastermaid"; "The Three Billy-Goats Gruff"; "Soria Moria

Simmons provides an informative introduction to the collection in the Preface, thus:

Sir George Webbe Dasent's Popular Tales from the Norse, from which most of these stories are taken,

was originally published in 1858, and an enlarged edition with thirteen further tales in 1859. The book

was not intended as a children's book, any more than was the collection of Folk Tales of the brothers

Grimm. Many of the incidents will be found the same in both collections, as is the case in such tales

all the world over, but with such variation in the setting and characters as makes them the more

interesting. As Sir George Dasent says in his introduction, "They are Nursery Tales, in fact, of the days

when there were tales in nurseries, old wives' fables, which have faded away before the light of gas

A selection of the tales for the use of children was issued in 1861, with a few illustrations. This, however,

omitted many of the most interesting of the stories - stories which, as they stood, were hardly fit for

young people. So little alteration, however, was needed, beyond the pruning of expressions unfit for

childish lips, and the modifying of a few incidents beyond the juvenile experience, that I have had the

The stories in the present volume that do not come from Popular Norse Tales I have taken from

another of Sir George Dasant's translations, Tales from the Fjeld, a book that contains a large number

of quite as charming tales as this does. For permission to do this I am indebted to the kindness of

The majority of the colour and monotone illustrations were prepared by Reginald Knowles with contributions from his brother,

The illustrations are in most cases signed by the artist who drew them. The one on page 367 is by

Horace J Knowles, and all the other unsigned pictures are by Reginal L Knowles, who also made the

cover design and the coloured illustrations with the exception of the one illustrating "The Blue Belt,"

In terms of illustrated books, Norse Fairy Tales is a magnificent volume. The fantasy imagery depicted by Reginald Knowles suits

the subject matter superbly and it has been cited as an influence on the work of, among others, Maurice Sendak.