F Was a Fanciful Frog: Edmund Dulac's Limericks

by Edmund Dulac

An illustrated collection of limericks for each letter of the alphabet, presenting humorous or odd characters from an Afghan Ameer to the old mathematician who carries X, Y, and Z in his head

28 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Dulac was born in Toulouse, France as "Edmond Dulac" in 1882.

Dulac attended the University of Toulouse, studying law while attending art classes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. After two years, he left law school and enrolled full-time in the Ecole.

He won the 1901 and 1903 Grand Prix for his paintings and, on scholarship, attended the Académie Julian in Paris in 1904.

After a move to London, he recieved a commission from J.M. Dent to illustrate the collected works of the Brontë sisters. Later, Dulac formed a relationship with the Leicester Gallery and Hodder & Stoughton. The Leicester Gallery commissioned his paintings and Hodder & Stoughton purchased the rights to the paintings for illustrated books.

Under this unique relationship, Dulac's illustrations appear in The Arabian Nights in 1907, The Tempest in 1908, The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fair Tales in 1910, The Bells and Other Poems in 1912 and more.

Dulac became a naturalized British Citizen on Feb 17 1912, and throughout World War I, he contributed his illustrations to relief books, including Princess Mary's Gift Book and King Albert's Book. In 1915, he produced Edmund Dulac's Picture Book for the French Red Cross. With the war's end, the illustrated book became less popular. His last such books were Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book and The Kingdom of the Pearl.

He continued his art with newspaper caricatures, portraiture, bank notes, bookplates, medals, chocolate boxes, postage stamps and various other graphics. Dulac in 1924 began producing illustrations for The American Weekly.

Halfway through his final book commission, Milton's Comus, Dulac died of a heart attack in 1953.

Reviews

[Solaris]

Read this book as a child and had fond memories of the illustrations. Reading this as an adult shows that this book is just straight up racist. There's no amount beautifully drawn fairies that can redeem that.

[Anne, Unfinished Woman]

An alphabet as seen in limericks...and the fabulous illustrations of Edmund Dulac. A treat to read out loud, with unusual characters and words.

[Loree]

wonderful