Worlds of Enchantment

Book excerpt: Maxfield Parrish enjoyed tremendous popularity throughout the early decades of the twentieth century. Bruce Watson, writing in Smithsonian magazine, deemed Parrish the "comman man's Rembrandt." It's said that during the Depression, a Parrish illustration was displayed on the walls of one out of every four American homes. The artist's romantic, richly colored images of winsome maidens and faraway places continue to appeal to modern audiences. Selected from hundreds of the artist's images for books, magazines, and calendars, this original collection spotlights Parrish's work from 1897 through the 1920s. Illustrations include art from publications such as Century Magazine, Collier's, and Scribner's. Numerous advertisements include the famed Edison-Mazda Lamp series, along with ads for Jell-O, Ferry's Seeds, and Swift's Premium Ham. A wide selection of book illustrations comprises scenes from The Arabian Nights, Eugene Field's Poems of Childhood, Louise Saunders' The Knave of Hearts, Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales, and other treasured works