Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book (1998), created by legendary fantasy artist Brian Froud and Monty Python’s Terry Jones, is a brilliantly subversive work of faux-Victorian whimsy that blurs the line between art book and literary hoax. Purporting to be the rediscovered journal of Angelica Cottington—a mischievous Edwardian girl who “collected” fairies by slamming them between book pages—the volume showcases Froud’s ingenious “fairy smear” illustrations, created by pressing inked fairy dolls onto paper to produce grotesquely beautiful imprints of wings, limbs, and startled faces. Jones’ accompanying text, written as an antiquarian’s scholarly commentary, drips with pitch-perfect parody of Victorian naturalists’ earnestness, complete with fabricated footnotes debating the authenticity of the “specimens.”
The Barnes & Noble exclusive edition enhances the illusion with delicate ephemera: a sealed envelope containing “fairy dust,” a reproduction of Angelica’s handwritten confession, and a satin bookmark resembling a crushed fairy wing. Every detail—from the faux-marbled endpapers to the strategically placed “tea stains”—reinforces the book’s central joke while showcasing Froud’s deep understanding of British folklore’s darker undertones. A masterpiece of graphic storytelling that influenced later works like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, this edition remains the ultimate expression of Froud’s unique vision, where beauty and horror flutter on the same gossamer wings.
