Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters

I loved this book! It's a must-have companion to the rest of the Lady Cottington books, and I looked thru it twice before I realized that her mother is sending her more than one message in the book, one is on a tiny leaf, delivered by the fairies. From about the middle until the end, when the writing becomes much bolder and clearer, her mother is telling her that she is still here, and to believe. Because the fairies have been dipping their toes into the ink, and attempting to convey the message, it's hard to see for what it is. This is a sweet, engaging book, and I just loved it. I think it is my favorite Cottington tome.

First off, I'm very biasedly a huge fan of Brian Froud and ADORE the Lady Cottington books. This book is so far my absolute favorite. I love how it's set up, the different letters are so greatly written. My favorite letters/notes are those from J.M. Barrie and Wendy Darling. I think that reading the other Cottington books s pretty much a must before starting this one, but it's really quite lovely. This album tells a story without using a regular narrative. Imaginative, beautiful, everything I expect from Froud and the Cottington albums.

This book is so nice I bought one for my mom for her birthday! Of course it was part of a huge stack we took to have Brian Froud sign - which makes it even more sweet! Very funny reading and the drawings are just fabulous!

I am a big fan of Lady Cottington's work, and this is another great installment in the series. The artistry is amazing - the amount of work required to not only paint (or "squash") the fairies is immense, but then to paint a "mirror" on the opposite page, and have it look like a fairy really was pressed between the pages - I can't even begin to imagine how much work it took! The authors clearly had fun putting this together. Although there is no "plot", you get a sense of a story - Lady Angelica is plaqued by fairies, and is also missing her mother, so she writes letters to famous people and collects the responses, with further tauntings by fairies. The books is extremely amusing! There were moments when I laughed out loud - for instance, on the inside back cover, there is a list of the letters and their authors, as well as a short bio on the author. W. S. Gilbert is described as being "...the very model of an English playwright/lyricist."

This is a must have for Froud fans, this book is so incredibly imaginative. Kind of a pop-up, pull-out 3-D for adult faery lovers. Totally unexpected silliness (even for Froud), also the same touching sweetness as with all the Cottington Books, Sweetness you say, a book about Squished Faeries? YES! believe it or not, very touching, I was quite surprised when I read the first Cottington, and it has continued on with this latest release, but with special little seals, envelopes to open and read, such fun, and almost like you really are seeing into some other person personal past life. That's why I so carefully opened and removed the content of each little envelope, it felt like they may crumble away with age. I really was taken with this book as you can tell. But then don't take my word for it see for yourself. This book is special!