Welleran Poltarnees

This is illustration gone totally wrong. There is a reason these books are lost and forgotten - they should never have seen the light of day. As Poltarnees says in the introduction:
"One reason that so many bizarre things occur in old children's books is that editorial discrimination was minimal during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There was an endless demand for new children's books and magazines and publishers were, for the most part easygoing. Many strange and original things got by which later would have been rejected as too eccentric."

They are fascinating though. And this book at least gives the full accreditation information for each page, so that one can follow up with further research.

The author Tom Robbins is quoted on the back cover: "Thanks to Weird & Wonderful, I now know what one book I would take with me to a desert island."

Truly weird. I'm not sure about the wonderful part. Dancing automobile parts, mother and child playing up in the telephone wires, food of all sorts doing things that food shouldn't do...… (mehr)