"Peter and the The Princess"

Well this post is a little off the Wizard of Oz but the book is just absolutely wonderful I felt I had to share it and have it in my ever growig collection of books.


"Peter and The Princess" was written by Carl H. Grabo, published by The Reilly & Lee Company of Chicago in 1920 and beautifully illustrated by John R. Neill. Neill's name will be familar with Wizard of Oz collectors as he did most if not all of the Oz illustrations after L. Frank Baum and W.W. Denslowparted ways. John R. Neill wrote four Oz books of his very own as well and continued illustrating most if not all of Ruth Thompson's Oz books.



The story mainly deals with a little boy named Peter and his friend Marianne and the adventures the two if them get into once they decide to leave Fairyland , go to Earth and grow up. At 243 pages in length one could finish this book in a day if you applied yourself. What I found wonderful about this book is each chapter, and there are twelve total, stand on there on as short stories that could be used for children's bedtime stories. The stories are loosely strung together as the main charactors stay the same with the introduction of new ones in each chapter and each new adventure.

I wanted to put in this post as well all of the color plates as it was mainly John R. Neill's ilustrations that made me buy this book in the first place, by the way this was found on E-bay for $43.00 which included the shipping.

About John R. Neill

1877 Born Nov 12 in Philadelphia, PA, fifth in a family of eight children. Grew up in Germantown, PA. Father died when he was 10. Mother managed to keep the large family together and ran the family laundry business.

1895 Graduated from the Philadelphia Central High School and enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Dropped out of school after one semester because he said, “they have nothing to teach him ".

1896 Worked as "cub reporter" for a Philadelphia newspaper doing sketches in Police Court. Then moved to the Philadelphia Inquirer where he stayed for three years learning the trade.

1898 Started working at the Philadelphia North American. Began receiving commissions.
1900 Moved to NYC to work for the Evening Journal.
1901 Returned to Philadelphia and the North American.
1902 Married Elsie Barrows on Oct. 7.

1904 Left the North American to work for the Public Ledger. He was approached by Reilly & Britton to illustrate The Land of Oz. Because he had so many assignments, Reilly & Britton had to hold three conferences with him before he was persuaded to accept the work. He set up his studio at "Devil’s Half Acre," a reconstructed colonial house in Lumberville, PA. This is where he illustrated most of the early Oz books. Neill also had a studio at 1020 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia.

1905 Returned to the North American, where he remained for the next 7 years. Continued to illustrate the Oz books and others, and developed his contacts for obtaining magazine illustration commissions.

1911 Resigned from the North American to freelance full time.
1913 Moved back to New York City since most of the magazines he was illustrating were located there.
1915 Elsie divorced John. They had no children. (He had been separated in NYC for two years.)

1919 Married actress Margaret Carroll. (Later nicknamed “Mommy Moy”). She was 30 and he was 42. Over the years they raised a family of three daughters, Natalie, Annrea, and Joan.

1925 Moved to Kensington Gardens, Great Neck, Long Island.
1930 The Depression brought hard times for illustrators as magazines and newspapers cut back on the expense of illustration and began to hire mostly photographers.

1933-35 The family moved many times. First they moved south to Palm Island, near Miami, Florida. Then for short periods in Townshend, Vermont, then New York City, and Scotland, CT.

1936 Bought the 130 acre "old Yaeger farm" on a mountain top in Flanders, New Jersey for $6000. Renamed it "Endolane Farm." Lived there for the rest of his life.

1943 Died September 19 of heart problems at age 65.

On the home front my Kidney Stone surgery is over, everything went very well and surpirislingly enough there was no stint put in--so hurrah, which means no having to take it out with any pain killers! Still a little sore and a little tired but recovering well.

School books for college go on sale on the 17th and a new student orientation is the 29th with classes starting the 31st. I am taking a sculpting and drawing class to start and I am excited and little nervous.