Princess Mary's Gift Book was published sometime during WWI and the proceeds were for 'The Queen's
"Work for Women" Fund'. Authors like J.M. Barrie, A. Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider
Haggard were represented along with original work from Russell Flint, E.J. Detmold, Arthur Rackham
and Edmund Dulac. These were tipped-in color plates and there was work by Rackham
and many others in the text.
Princess Mary:
The third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary
HRH The Princess Victoria
Alexandra Alice Mary was just 17 when war broke out and the Fund to which she lent her name was
the first great national cause with which she became associated. full name: Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary birth: 1897.04.25 at York Cottage, Sandringham father: King George V mother: Queen Mary marriage: 1922.02.28 Viscount Henry George Charles Lascelles (6th Earl of Harewood) at Westminster Abbey children: 1923 The Rt Hon George Henry Hubert (Lascelles) (7th Earl of Harewood)
1924 The Hon. Gerald David Lascelles
death: 1965.03.28 at Harewood House, Leeds
Published 1914 by Hodder & Stoughton, London
140 pages, 12 colour plates, and numerous other illustrations.
Princess Mary's Gift Book has a certain notoriety attached to it these days since it was
discovered in the 1980s that the photos of the Cottingley Fairies dating from the 1920s, and
endorsed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle amongst others as evidence for the existence of fairies,
had been based on fairy drawings taken from this book.
Judge for yourself - the only two illustrations of fairies in the book are reproduced below
