The Coming Of The Fairies

This book contains reproductions of the famous Cottingley photographs, and gives the whole of the evidence in connection with them. The diligent reader is in almost as good a position as I am to form a judgment upon the authenticity of the pictures. This narrative is not a special plea for that authenticity, but is simply a collection of facts the inferences from which may be accepted or rejected as the reader may think fit. I would warn the critic, however, not to be led away by the sophistry that because some professional trickster, apt at the game of deception, can produce a somewhat similar effect, therefore the originals were produced in the same way. There are few realities which cannot be imitated, and the ancient argument that because conjurers on their own prepared plates or stages can produce certain results, therefore similar results[vi] obtained by untrained people under natural conditions are also false, is surely discounted by the intelligent public. I would add that this whole subject of the objective existence of a subhuman form of life has nothing to do with the larger and far more vital question of spiritualism. I should be sorry if my arguments in favour of the latter should be in any way weakened by my exposition of this very strange episode, which has really no bearing upon the continued existence of the individual. Arthur Conan Doyle.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north in this “incredibly fun journey through fae lands and dark magic” (NPR), the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series. “A darkly gorgeous fantasy that sparkles with snow and magic.”—Sangu Mandanna, author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, PopSugar Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people. So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart. Book One of the Emily Wilde Series

An Introduction to the History and Mystery of Their Magical Realm Fairies abound in the realms of myth and folklore. They have enchanted humans for centuries—but are these mischievous, ethereal creatures more than just myth? One could ask for no better guide to the fairy realm than Ralph Harvey, one of England’s foremost modern-day witches. In Fairies Plain & Simple he intersperses his own intriguing fairy encounters (among them, a mysterious musical interlude in an Irish valley) with succinct yet interesting introductions to fairy lore. You will learn why roses have special meaning to fairies and why “elf bolts” are significant as well as how fairies influenced everyone from Henry III to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Harvey even describes the best ways to seek out fairies (hint: aligning your chakras will help) and how to express gratitude for fairy favors.

Written by a former member of the Monty Python troupe, this satire of the fairy picture hoax of 1895 is riotously witty, visually extraordinary and wildly original. Illustrations.

Illustrations By: Tara Larsen Chang Inside you is the power to do anything Once every hundred years, the courage of humanity begins to fail. It takes a coordinated effort from the entire magic community to restore the Cave of Courage so that we can all bravely face the challenges in our lives. This century, Mother Nature has chosen a dwarf, a leprechaun, a gnome, a troll, two brownies, and four fairies to participate. With four fairies involved usually no challenge would be too difficult, but now they must rely on the help of others, something that not everyone is good at ... What if you discovered you had magical fairy powers? Meet the girls of The Fairy Chronicles, otherwise normal girls like you who are blessed by Mother Nature with special gifts. Their extraordinary adventures will change the world!

The enchanting true story of a girl who saw fairies, and another with a gift for art, who concocted a story to stay out of trouble and ended up fooling the world. Frances was nine when she first saw the fairies. They were tiny men, dressed all in green. Nobody but Frances saw them, so her cousin Elsie painted paper fairies and took photographs of them “dancing” around Frances to make the grown-ups stop teasing. The girls promised each other they would never, ever tell that the photos weren’t real. But how were Frances and Elsie supposed to know that their photographs would fall into the hands of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? And who would have dreamed that the man who created the famous detective Sherlock Holmes believed ardently in fairies — and wanted very much to see one? Mary Losure presents this enthralling true story as a fanciful narrative featuring the original Cottingley fairy photos and previously unpublished drawings and images from the family’s archives. A delight for everyone with a fondness for fairies, and for anyone who has ever started something that spun out of control. Back matter includes source notes and a bibliography.

This biography examines whether two cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, really witnessed and photographed fairies in the suburb of Cottingley in Bradford over 70 years ago. It questions why people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edward Gardner were convinced that the photographs were genuine. This text reveals what the author discovered about the case of the Cottingley fairies, as he worked with the two cousins for six years for the purpose of his research, and found that some of their prevarications become confessions.