The Greatest Illustrated Fantasy You've Never Heard of: William Timlin's Ship that Sailed to Mars

[@barbaramcspadden8655]

I have not heard of this book. Thanks for telling the story. I've ordered from Dover Publications for over 30 years. 👍

[@AisleofMisfitBooks]

You're welcome! Dover is great, I'm a big fan :)

[@meesalikeu]

reminds me of little nemo style - very charming 🎉

[@AisleofMisfitBooks]

Agreed-love me some Little Nemo! :)

[@NancyLebovitz]

I'd never heard of The Ship that Sailed to Mars until I saw your video. How about _The Red Book_ by Jung?

[@AisleofMisfitBooks]

Glad to hear it! The Red Book is amazing-but a whole other kettle of fish, right? Much more complex, and never really intended for publication… I just added it to my list of books to profile-thanks for the tip!

[@NancyLebovitz]

@@AisleofMisfitBooks If your reading tastes include the weird and perverse, I can recommend _I Reign in Hell_ by Quentin S. Crisp (the horror writer, not the naked civil servant). The illustrations are very fine, but few people have read him. I'm torn between "why isn't he famous?" and "how did he get published at all?".

[@andrew_hallman]

@@NancyLebovitz Cool! I will check it out - glad you clarified, though the naked civil servant looks interesting as well 😄

[@noahhallman7619]

Great vid!

[@AisleofMisfitBooks]

Thanks!

[@Kjt853]

The style of those illustrations resembles that of Arthur Rackham. I own an early 20th-century edition of Kipling’s “Puck of Pook’s Hill” that Rackham illustrated.

[@AisleofMisfitBooks]

100%. Rackham was the undisputed king of this sort of book, and Timlin’s book was made in that style, following in Rackham’s footsteps. Unlike Rackham, who illustrated classic tales, Timlin wrote his own, and also unlike Rackham-who produced something like 20, 25 of these books, this was Timlin’s only one (sadly). Thanks for pointing that out!

[@Kjt853]

@ I wonder if you’d be able to help me with a book issue. In September ‘92 (I remember the time because this occurred on my wedding trip), I saw a children’s book in a shop in Bar Harbor, ME. The book was a (then) recently published edition of “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” with illustrations by M. Dibdin Spooner. (The book was printed as a stand-alone, but apparently the illustrations had been reproduced from a collection called “The Golden Staircase,” which had been published around 1906.) Like an idiot, I didn’t purchase the book, which retailed for $15.95, and I’ve regretted that decision ever since. The following year I went back to the same shop, hoping to find another copy. You guessed it - no copy there. I even asked the owner about the book. She looked up the previous year’s records and said she saw no reference to the book. 😵‍💫 I’ve looked on Amazon, Ebay, Alibris, Abebooks - you name it - all to no avail. I know I wasn’t dreaming, nor had I taken anything that could have induced hallucinations. Do you know anything about this book? Believe me - I’m not making this up!

[@atelier27]

I need one that isn’t over $200. Is there a good or decent reproduction that doesn’t cost that much?

[@AisleofMisfitBooks]

These are the only two reprints I’ve come across-which is part of why it’s still pretty unknown (I think also bc Timlin was South African). I’m still working on getting my website set up so folks can order stuff from there, and I should be posting a copy of the Calla edition soon-and I think $200 is a reasonable price. I’ve seen it higher though. Either way, thanks for stopping by!

[@atelier27]

@@AisleofMisfitBooks Thanks so much for the reply. It’s very cool but I need to curtail my book collecting until I make more money :) Thanks for making me aware of it.