This is a stunning facsimile edition of the 1870 edition. Doyle's fairies are impish rather than cute; they often tease birds and bugs, but they can also be elegant like the fairy lady in her butterfly-drawn chariot. Doyle's designs are full of humour: the longs strands of the elf-king's beard are carried by three pages, with a fourth carrying the king's long hair, and the elven knights ride on grasshoppers and bugs and wasps.

The fairy illustrations might not be among Doyle's best work (he did that, imo, during his PUNCH years), but "In Fairy Land" is a beautiful volume nonetheless. ( )