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The Cottington Family’s Pressed Fairy Books
Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book
This is a reproduction of the diary of Lady Angelica Cottington, which features pressed garden fairies. Or rather the psychic images of the fairies, who quickly turned it into a game, where they leapt between the closing pages in an effort to outdo each other to produce the most outrageous poses.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
22 people are currently reading
6833 people want to read
About the author
Terry Jones
188 books290 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth and is credited with the screenplay, though little of his work actually remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died in 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth and is credited with the screenplay, though little of his work actually remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died in 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 299 reviews
August 4, 2016
Based on the series of turn-of-the-century photos of the supposed “Cottingley Fairies”, Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book is definitely not a children’s book, but rather a morbid fantasy told through journal entries about a horrid imp of a girl who makes a hobby of crushing fairies in between the pages of her dairy. Designed to resemble a reproduction of the awful little girl’s actual journal, the book comes with dozens of wonderful drawings—courtesy of Brian Froud, the man behind the creature designs for the movies Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal—of fairies splattered across age-yellowed pages. Terry Jones of Monty Python renown is on writing duty, and he gleefully presents the Lady’s entries as a series of increasingly disturbing snapshots of the life she leads smooshing fairies, goblins, sprites, pixies, any pint-sized magical creature she can snap her book shut on like a trap. As the story unfolds, the Lady grows up into a lady and enters a grimmsian world of lusty lords, perverted bishops and a dark underpinning of carnality. A delightfully gloomy book; recommended for ages 6 and up.
February 3, 2023
Just read this again because I accidentally ordered it when I meant to order the sequel, Lady Cottington's Fairy Album. Because those titles are so distinctive... do other people make this mistake?
April 19, 2020
I just love Froud.
March 20, 2012
Personally, I love Terry Jones's strange yet very creative story and Brian Froud's magical artwork in this book. Terry Jones has always been one of my favorites in the “Python” gang of movies and the old BBC shows of “Monty Python & the Flying Circus” and Froud's gorgeous watercolor artwork is enchanting…even if the fairies all met an untimely squashing by a naughty little girl.
"Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book" is full of the former Python's quirky story of what else...pressed fairies...the poor dears. Squished at the prime of their tiny lives to create a scrapbook/diary for one, Miss Cottington. Actually, I believe there were some other odd little characters smooshed in the book, too...kind of green, slimy looking creatures...cute critters actually...:>
Frankly, I bought the book for the artwork (and the awesome pressed fairy stickers that came with it!) but enjoyed the story written in diary-style of how two young girls in the days of early photography spoofed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a myriad of others into believing they had actually captured pictures of fairies in a photograph. What fun!
"Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book" is full of the former Python's quirky story of what else...pressed fairies...the poor dears. Squished at the prime of their tiny lives to create a scrapbook/diary for one, Miss Cottington. Actually, I believe there were some other odd little characters smooshed in the book, too...kind of green, slimy looking creatures...cute critters actually...:>
Frankly, I bought the book for the artwork (and the awesome pressed fairy stickers that came with it!) but enjoyed the story written in diary-style of how two young girls in the days of early photography spoofed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a myriad of others into believing they had actually captured pictures of fairies in a photograph. What fun!
September 16, 2024
That took an unexpected turn... Loved the art of the pressed "fairies"! The changes to Lady Cottington's handwriting as the years go by was also a great touch.
April 9, 2019
Confusingly, the Dutch title, translated back into English, is "Lady Cottington's Fairy Album", which happens to be the title of the second instalment of Angelica Cottington's adventures with fairies, published only in 2002.
This, however, is a translation of the first book, with text by Terry Jones and artwork by Brian Froud.
Although I am a fan of Terry Jones's work, I didn't like this book as much as I did the second. It is funny, but the squashing of fairies got a bit old and the book ended rather abruptly. In Lady Cottington's Fairy Album, Brian Froud managed to add some real depth and poignancy to the story. Plus there were photographs!
An amusing quote:
What's also amusing is that the library has catalogued this under author Angelica Cottington and SISO classification code 908.5 ("Ethnology - Superstition, including witchcraft and magic"), as if Angelica was real and this was an actual non-fiction book on fairies. 😄
This, however, is a translation of the first book, with text by Terry Jones and artwork by Brian Froud.
Although I am a fan of Terry Jones's work, I didn't like this book as much as I did the second. It is funny, but the squashing of fairies got a bit old and the book ended rather abruptly. In Lady Cottington's Fairy Album, Brian Froud managed to add some real depth and poignancy to the story. Plus there were photographs!
An amusing quote:
"Ah! Je borsten zijn witter dan een blanco cheque!"which no doubt reads as
"Ah! Your breasts are whiter than a blank cheque!"in the original.
What's also amusing is that the library has catalogued this under author Angelica Cottington and SISO classification code 908.5 ("Ethnology - Superstition, including witchcraft and magic"), as if Angelica was real and this was an actual non-fiction book on fairies. 😄
December 1, 2009
I read this book when I was in middle school I think, but even now I look back at it as very well done and interesting. The entire book is full of "pressed fairies" that a young girl finds in her garden over a period in her life. The book is set up like a diary, and the illustrations are just beautiful. There is some nudity (as fairies aren't that modest), but that part of the book made it even more intriguing for a pre-pubescent as I was at the time. Really, it's nothing to get upset over as it is all portrayed as natural and artistic. A really nicely made book.
May 15, 2011
Lady Cottington’s journal is a coming of age story equipped with squished and squashed faires, pixes, and goblins! Angelica Cottington has the ability to see fae folk, but of course no one believes her. She grows and gets into some pretty hilarious romantic situations..which she blames on the fairies. I’ve loved Brian Froud since labyrinth (5th grade.) The journal entries are so darn believable that I was sure it was at least loosely based on some fairy sightings. I wasn’t able to find anything..:(
I still believe though…
Actually I did find the Cottingley Fairy incident.
I still believe though…
Actually I did find the Cottingley Fairy incident.
September 23, 2011
While I very much enjoyed the art work the story was less to be desired. It started out rather fun but made an awful turn for the worse. Very unfortunate. Had such potential.
May 14, 2019
What did I think? I don't know. I'm very conflicted
June 26, 2012
Froud's artwork is as lovely as ever. His pastel, water color type style meshes well with the subject of pressed-fairies. The concept of the naughty, bawdy fairies is quite charming and they had me chuckling to myself.
The story itself - the diary of the girl who captured the fairies - is often amusing and charming, but at times quite terrible.
The story itself - the diary of the girl who captured the fairies - is often amusing and charming, but at times quite terrible.
June 29, 2013
okay..cool idea. been dying to read this book for like...a lifetime. and now that I finally have..am I the only one completely disturbed by the repeated fairy rape? wtf?
July 25, 2016
Found a copy of the first edition today, yes!
Finally after years of owning the pocket edition of this excellent book. What a beauty.
Finally after years of owning the pocket edition of this excellent book. What a beauty.
June 10, 2019
“Skamperdans never wears her drawers. And that’s why she’s always stealing yours. And stockings too.”
https://mbuubooks.blogspot.com/2019/0...
https://mbuubooks.blogspot.com/2019/0...
May 8, 2019
Let me start out by saying that this book is not for kids. It has a dark tone and adult theme.
I enjoyed this book. It was like I was reading someone's diary, lol. I love books like that. I also like how the "writing" in the book starts of child like and then it changes to more of an adult "writing" as Lady Cottongton grows older. By child like, I mean misspelled words and things like that.
I looove the look of this book! It looks worn out a bit and it feels lovely. I also enjoyed the illustrations done by Brian Froud. If you don't know who he is, he worked on some creatures for Jim Henson's Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. I love those movies, especially Labyrinth! Oh, Jareth, how I love you!!!
Ok, I'm getting way off topic here. Where was I. Oh, yeah, Brian Froud. I love his fairies and goblins creatures.
I wish this book was a bit longer but I seen there is a second book and I definitely want to check it out.
If you enjoy dark tales with fairies in them, then you might want to check this out. It's definitely a fast read seeing how short this book is.
I enjoyed this book. It was like I was reading someone's diary, lol. I love books like that. I also like how the "writing" in the book starts of child like and then it changes to more of an adult "writing" as Lady Cottongton grows older. By child like, I mean misspelled words and things like that.
I looove the look of this book! It looks worn out a bit and it feels lovely. I also enjoyed the illustrations done by Brian Froud. If you don't know who he is, he worked on some creatures for Jim Henson's Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. I love those movies, especially Labyrinth! Oh, Jareth, how I love you!!!
Ok, I'm getting way off topic here. Where was I. Oh, yeah, Brian Froud. I love his fairies and goblins creatures.
I wish this book was a bit longer but I seen there is a second book and I definitely want to check it out.
If you enjoy dark tales with fairies in them, then you might want to check this out. It's definitely a fast read seeing how short this book is.
October 23, 2014
The story is typical Monty Python -- lots of sexual innuendo, double-entendre, and some not-so-subtle crudity.
What this book is all about is the incredible artwork, which shows a host of faeries, goblins, elves, and others. All crushed (brutally, gorily, hysterically) between the pages of a book by a Victorian girl. You get funny faces, nudity, gushes of bodily fluid, and outrageous poses.
It's as if you drove a car at high speed through Fairy Land, and photographed the remains on your front windshield.
It's great!!!
What this book is all about is the incredible artwork, which shows a host of faeries, goblins, elves, and others. All crushed (brutally, gorily, hysterically) between the pages of a book by a Victorian girl. You get funny faces, nudity, gushes of bodily fluid, and outrageous poses.
It's as if you drove a car at high speed through Fairy Land, and photographed the remains on your front windshield.
It's great!!!
February 14, 2022
Okay. I expected the lude fairies. I was not expecting the rape and then attempted rape. This should definitely come with a warning. In my opinion this takes away from the book. It started cute and whimsical and then left me feeling dirty and regretful. I bought the whole series for the artwork but I never would have done so if I realized it went in this direction. Very disappointed and reluctant to read the others.
January 2, 2009
Having raised my daughter on Cicely Mary Barker's flower fairy images and poems, this send-up had me rolling with laughter. The fairies are the faces of repressed and sometimes deviant sexual desire. The irony is rich and fun.
August 23, 2009
Oh my Fairy Goddess! What a wonderful and creative book. I recommend it with all the fairy love I have in my heart, that certainly grew bigger upon reading this. A true delight of a book.
February 23, 2025
its always sunny isekai in which dennis reynolds is reborn as a edwardian noblewoman
July 2, 2022
very disturbing..in fact, i think she mistook bugs for fairies.
September 14, 2018
Old hoaxes never die -- they just come back sillier than ever. Around the time of World War One, two well-to-do British girls, cousins, were larking about with their cameras and claimed to have "discovered" fairies. While to the 21st-Century eye these fairies look like the obvious hoax they were, at the time they were enough to convince Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of their authenticity (partly due to the fact, we suspect, that A.C. Doyle was a devout Theosophist and wanted very badly to believe in such spiritual manifestations). They were known as the "Cottingley Fairies."
Fast-forward to 1994, when Monty Python member Terry Jones released this book, "proving" that the fairies did exist -- and that they had been pressed (squashed, really) like faded roses in the pages of a book kept by one "Lady Cottington." Gross, gruesome, grim, but the shock appeal alone is enough to make it funny. The wave of ensuing LADY COTTINGTON'S PRESSED FAIRY BOOKs extended even to our own century. Expect to be amused, but if you buy over the Internet, be sure to get the full-sized original books out of Pavilion (UK) or Barnes & Noble (USA) publishers -- not the later B&N versions that are so small the "0riginal" girlish script can barely be read.
Enough to fool even smart people in 1917.
CAVEAT: The fairies pictured in this book are caught in poses of agony, and frequently nude too. Should not be viewed by impressionable children under age 34.
(One of the milder pictures from the book, actually)
Fast-forward to 1994, when Monty Python member Terry Jones released this book, "proving" that the fairies did exist -- and that they had been pressed (squashed, really) like faded roses in the pages of a book kept by one "Lady Cottington." Gross, gruesome, grim, but the shock appeal alone is enough to make it funny. The wave of ensuing LADY COTTINGTON'S PRESSED FAIRY BOOKs extended even to our own century. Expect to be amused, but if you buy over the Internet, be sure to get the full-sized original books out of Pavilion (UK) or Barnes & Noble (USA) publishers -- not the later B&N versions that are so small the "0riginal" girlish script can barely be read.
Enough to fool even smart people in 1917.
CAVEAT: The fairies pictured in this book are caught in poses of agony, and frequently nude too. Should not be viewed by impressionable children under age 34.
(One of the milder pictures from the book, actually)
Read
February 14, 2013I just today remembered that this book existed. I read the whole thing standing in a used book store one afternoon shortly after it came out, and was more than a little disgusted by it.
The art is lovely, but it was the concept that I found bothersome.
Why?
A friend got it for me as a birthday gift not long after I read it, thinking that it would be perfect for faerie loving me, and I gave that grin that says to most people "Oh, I LOVE IT!" but really means "Oh, I love YOU, so I'll PRETEND to love it!"
Everyone has one of those grins, I've perfected mine over a number of years.
I wanted to love this book, but the thought of smushing faeries, even if it's just to capture their essences (which really sounds dirty now that I think about it) put a bad taste in my mouth (which furthers that dirtiness earlier in the sentence, I guess).
It's kind of making me sad thinking about it now, and I'm glad this wasn't around when I was a kid. I would have taken the whole thing as a personal affront and refused to ever watch Monty Python again because Terry Jones would have been DEAD TO ME.
He was never my favourite, anyway.
The art is lovely, but it was the concept that I found bothersome.
Why?
A friend got it for me as a birthday gift not long after I read it, thinking that it would be perfect for faerie loving me, and I gave that grin that says to most people "Oh, I LOVE IT!" but really means "Oh, I love YOU, so I'll PRETEND to love it!"
Everyone has one of those grins, I've perfected mine over a number of years.
I wanted to love this book, but the thought of smushing faeries, even if it's just to capture their essences (which really sounds dirty now that I think about it) put a bad taste in my mouth (which furthers that dirtiness earlier in the sentence, I guess).
It's kind of making me sad thinking about it now, and I'm glad this wasn't around when I was a kid. I would have taken the whole thing as a personal affront and refused to ever watch Monty Python again because Terry Jones would have been DEAD TO ME.
He was never my favourite, anyway.
July 28, 2022
The pictures are amazing and the overall book is hilarious but the actual story is weird and quite horrifying. It’s also not made clear anywhere that the book is not for kids. Definitely don’t buy this for children, even though it is advertised as a children’s book.
October 19, 2019
So funny! My sister gave this book to me long ago.
April 19, 2017
A fun book, but I was told it was a bad birthday gift for my 10 year old niece. The replacement book, Wolves in the Walls scared her away from reading for a few months. Sigh. Kids..
October 15, 2020
This is written in a diary/memoir format, the text didn't keep me interested enough to read it carefully. It's not something really for children since some of the pictures are quite sensual. A whimsical, curious little book.
October 23, 2020
I love this book, have read many times - it's fantastical and fantastic!
April 5, 2024
Soon after I started it, I realised this was not gonna be the simple fairy story I thought it was, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Such great illustrations by Brian Froud and some good metaphors & meanings in there about Lady Cottington’s obsession with the fairies - well, ones the reader can interpret as they wish.
Also a very fun take on the real story of the 1917 Cottingly’s Fairy Photos. I kind of want to read the other books now, just out of curiosity!
Such great illustrations by Brian Froud and some good metaphors & meanings in there about Lady Cottington’s obsession with the fairies - well, ones the reader can interpret as they wish.
Also a very fun take on the real story of the 1917 Cottingly’s Fairy Photos. I kind of want to read the other books now, just out of curiosity!
November 18, 2012
Well, this was a difficult book to rate, mainly because somewhere there should have been some mention that this wasn't merely a cute picture book. I picked it up thinking it would simply be a series of smashed fairy pictures with cute, light descriptions by the girl who did the squishing. This book, while full of fun, interesting pictures, is not a light book, nor a children's book.
And I guess that was my main issue with it. It was well done. The pictures were fascinating, and the story was good, but I don't think it was properly presented. Because of how the book was presented, how the beginning played out, starting with Angelica's childhood obsession of capturing fairies between the pages of a book, the underlying social commentary was just not readily accessible, and to me sort of difficult to actually pick up on.
At first I actually hated the story...when made me appreciate the book more.
Overall, though, I don't think it was as effective as could be. Because I had no warning for the...um, more weighty matter slipped into an otherwise light, childish-looking book, I was completely unprepared for it and mistakenly took it for awful writing. If you just care for the interesting artwork, though, the book is lovely; if you're going to read the text also, be aware this isn't a children's book.
And I guess that was my main issue with it. It was well done. The pictures were fascinating, and the story was good, but I don't think it was properly presented. Because of how the book was presented, how the beginning played out, starting with Angelica's childhood obsession of capturing fairies between the pages of a book, the underlying social commentary was just not readily accessible, and to me sort of difficult to actually pick up on.
At first I actually hated the story...when made me appreciate the book more.
Overall, though, I don't think it was as effective as could be. Because I had no warning for the...um, more weighty matter slipped into an otherwise light, childish-looking book, I was completely unprepared for it and mistakenly took it for awful writing. If you just care for the interesting artwork, though, the book is lovely; if you're going to read the text also, be aware this isn't a children's book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 299 reviews