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Friday, December 23, 2011

Discovery!


Look Familiar?  If you're a grognard it should.  I was trawling through the public domain books at archive.org when I found this picture by H. J. Ford in the Green Fairy Book.  I recognized it immediately as the model for Dave Trampier's cloud giant:

It's cool how many features he kept, though I think Ford's tilted torso seems less static, has more character.   And I'd always wondered a bit about those long canines, but it makes sense now, Ford uses them a lot to indicate non-human bugaboos: goblins, djinn, giants etc.

It's odd because I thought I'd gone through all the colored fairy books looking for art already.  But I must have missed the Green book, because I don't recognize the other illustrations.
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19 comments:

  1. TreyDecember 23, 2011 at 4:53 AM

    Huh. Cool find!

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  2. ArkheinDecember 23, 2011 at 6:25 AM

    How wonderful. The Cloud Giant makes sense now. :)

    - Ark

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  3. artikidDecember 23, 2011 at 7:31 AM

    Great catch!

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  4. NecropraxisDecember 23, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    I've noticed the "colored fairy books" on Amazon before, and they have always looked intriguing. Are they worth a look for the content in addition to the art?

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  5. scottszDecember 23, 2011 at 8:25 AM

    Excellent!

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  6. Zak SabbathDecember 23, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    look at that...

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  7. rafael beltrameDecember 23, 2011 at 8:54 AM

    thats great! thanks for sharing

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  8. grodogDecember 23, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    Nice find! :D

    Allan.

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  9. cgeiselDecember 23, 2011 at 9:53 AM

    I just read the page before and after the original illo. and there's a great magic item--a huge club whose scent revives women and dispenses jewels. :)

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  10. Aaron E. SteeleDecember 23, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    Nice!

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  11. Greg GDecember 23, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    This was listed on the Acaeum or Dragonsfoot at some point in the past.

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  12. TelecanterDecember 23, 2011 at 1:40 PM

    Thanks, all.

    @Brendan: Sorry to say I don't know, because I'm just cruising through looking at the art. Though some of the pics are of odd and intriguing situations (like the dervish drowning pigs pic I posted a while back).

    @cr0m: Hah, nice.

    @kiltedyaksman: I was wondering about that possibility. Is there a page somewhere that lists all these? I know I saw the OD&D pics compared to Marvel comics frames somewhere. Then just recently I was blown a way when James of Underdark Gazette posted the Beardsley illo that Darlene based her DMg pic on.

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  13. Mark CMG CloverDecember 23, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    Excellent find!

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  14. dervishdelverDecember 23, 2011 at 4:12 PM

    wow, there must be other hidden gems like this to be found. let the treasure hunt begin.

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  15. UnknownDecember 23, 2011 at 5:39 PM

    Great find!

    @Brendan-yes, Andrew Lang's Colored Fairy Books are well worth reading if you are interested in fairy tales from around the world. Check wikipedia for a good overview of the volumes, and you can get the complete texts here: http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/

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  16. Zenopus ArchivesDecember 23, 2011 at 6:48 PM

    Thanks for posting this, Telecanter. Like the yaksman I do recall seeing this once before, perhaps at DF. But it's been lost to the mists so I'm glad to see it again.

    While we are on Trampier, have you seen the photos of the street in Rhodes that he used for the Emirkiol pic in the DMG?

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  17. TelecanterDecember 23, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    I did, and that blew my mind too! Thanks for reminding me, people reading the comments might get a blast.

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  18. AlDecember 24, 2011 at 6:43 AM

    Fascinating!

    I like that book, too.

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  19. JimJanuary 2, 2012 at 8:24 AM

    Great post, great find! Thanks for sharing!

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