She also enrolled in a Correspondence Art course which she continued until 1918. In 1908, when Cicely was 13, her father enrolled her at the Croydon Art Society, where they both exhibited work. She was unable to go to school, so she was educated at home and spent much of her time on her own, reading and drawing. She suffered from epilepsy as a child and remained physically delicate for most of her life. Her principal influence, however, which she duly credited, was the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.Ĭicely Mary Barker was born in 1895 in Croydon, England.

As a child, she was greatly influenced by the works of the illustrator Kate Greenaway, whom she assiduously copied in her formative years. Walter Barker and Mary Eleanor (Oswald) BarkerĬicely Mary Barker (28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973) was the illustrator who created the famous Flower Fairies, in the shape of ethereal smiling children with butterfly wings. Out of Great Tribulation and other Christian-themed works in various British churches and chapels The Flower Fairies of the Spring (1923) and other Flower Fairy books Triptychs and other works for the Anglican church Various publishers but chiefly Blackie and Son LimitedĬommissions from various British dioceses POSTAGE AT COST.Ashes spread in the churchyard at Storrington, Sussex, England MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. A very good plus bright copy (issued without dustwrapper?). Corners just very slightly rubbed, no inscriptions, contents very nice. They are very slender and long limbed, curiously Fairy Snowdrop wears stockings and suspenders! The roses do a Wild Rose dance and the thistles the Scotch reel. The delightful flower fairies have no wings and are only distantly related to those of Cicely Barker. Alice inspired: 2 small girls picking wild flowers get sleepy, follow a sorrel fairy, shrink to a very small size, enter a hole in an oak tree, and at the end of a tunnel, arrive with lots of other flower creatures at the court of Queen Daisy and King Dandelion.

Coloured title illustration and 13 large pretty coloured illustrations including 1 double page by V. FIRST EDITION circa 1945 (dated from British Library accession date), 4to, 285 x 215 mm, 11¼ x 8½ inches, white cloth backed boards, colour illustrated upper board with red title, grey lower board, (16) pages.

Flower fairies spring