Dorothy Lathrop’s Three Mulla-mulgars
May 12, 2008
A Kipling-esque jungle tale by Walter de la Mare with Sidney Sime-esque illustrations by Dorothy Lathrop (1891–1980). The Three Mulla-mulgars was published in 1919 and is another book which can be downloaded at Archive.org. Inevitably (and conveniently), Golden Age Comic Book Stories has two pages of Ms Lathrop’s work including a number of colour plates from the book.
• Bud Plant’s Dorothy Lathrop page
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Sidney Sime and Lord Dunsany
• Harry Clarke’s The Year’s at the Spring
4 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by Wiley
May 13th, 2008
Walter de la Mare has a writing quality so eerie, mysterious, atmospheric, subtle and yet overwhelming, like the equivalent intoxicant in the form of written word as Coil did for music. I haven’t read the story in question but, the illustrations certainly capture a chord I would expect to feel in a story by de la Mare.
#2 posted by John
May 13th, 2008
I agree about his writing although this book seems rather lighter than stories such as Seaton’s Aunt. He also wrote poetry for children and Three Mulla-mulgars is aimed more in that direction. As usual with these kind of books, the illustrations turn something minor into something special.
If you like de la Mare’s stories I suggest you try Robert Aickman Iif you haven’t already), a later writer adept at creating the same sense of unease.
#3 posted by Wiley
May 13th, 2008
Oh yes, I do enjoy Robert Aickman. Thomas Ligotti seems to be the current post-Lovecraft writer of choice for this manner of lit, and he is very good and quite original, but I do like Aickman more.
#4 posted by Will, A Journey Round My Skull
Sep 21st, 2008
Once again, I really need to go through your archives. Thanks for alerting me to the incredible Lathrop. I may add a few of her images to that post.
Seaton’s Aunt scares the hell out of me. I’ll dig out my Aickman story collection — purchased but not yet read. I’m always looking for that “sense of unease.”
Leave a comment for ‘Dorothy Lathrop’s Three Mulla-mulgars’