It is the largest, most famous and many believe the most beautiful dollhouse in the world. It was conceived as a gift for Queen Mary by her cousin Princess Marie Louise and built under the supervision of Edwin Lutyens, who at the time wore the crown as Britain’s most famous architect.
Aside from the toilets that flush, the working elevators and the six working automobiles that live in the garage the dollhouse features a 171-volume library of short works, some written exclusively for the dollhouse, by some of the leading writers of the day including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and W. Somerset Maugham.
Photograph: The Royal Collection
Each miniature book is about the size of a postage stamp and was bound in leather by the master bookbinders Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
As astonishing as the library is it is equally astonishing that many of the works contained therein have rarely been seen let alone read.
Luckily, that is about to change. “Thanks to a collaboration between Royal Collection Publications and Walker Books, the fairy story contained within J Smith by Fougasse will be revealed in full and on human scale for the first time”
Photograph: The Royal Collection
‘Fougasse’, is the pen name of Cyril Kenneth Bird, one of the leading cartoonists of the day. The book tells the story of a fairy, Joe Smith, who falls out of Fairyland one stormy night and lands in London. After a series of misadventures, including a turn on the London stage and an attempt to become an artist, Joe decides that fairyland is a far safer place to be and returns again to his ‘fairy brotherhood’.
Post on the new publishing project at The Royal Collection website
You can tour the library here
Piece at The Guardian, Miniature fairytale for royal dolls’ house to be published full size
