May 12, 2008
Dorothy Lathrop’s Three Mulla-mulgars
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
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
#1 posted by Wiley
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.
May 13th, 2008
#2 posted by John
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.
May 13th, 2008
#3 posted by Wiley
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.
May 13th, 2008
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