1921 Promotional for Bernard Sleigh 'Ancient Mappe of Fairy Land'

An unusual discovery. This is a period magazine promotion of Bernard Sleigh's fantastical 1921 map of Fairyland - one of the great masterpieces of fantasy cartography. Bernard Sleigh produced the original to wide acclaim in the aftermath of World War I (1914 - 1918). The present double page presentation, issued by The World magazine, offers a teaser glimpse of the right side of Sleigh's 6-foot-long masterpiece, as well as fascinating content offering unique insights into the map's publication.

Textual Content

The text below the map, offers some insight into into the experience of seeing what, at the time, would have been a remarkable and novel production with no contemporaneous parallels:

One day Bernard Sleigh went on a journey into the miraculous realms of fancy and wonder … he met a gnome, who had in his hand a very old map that had once belonged to the ancient steward of the King of Faery. Mr. Sleigh wanted the map very badly, for he was hungry and anxious to get back to his home. … Armed with the map he explored all the regions through which we wander when we are gripped by the spell of the entrancing stories of chivalrous knights, lovey ladies and fairies, giants, ogres and children … And then, maybe, we'll find ourselves back in Dreamland again … So let's forsake our humdrum world of everyday … and let's embark for Fairyland!

A Fairy Land

Fairy Land is a wonderful mélange of European fairy tales, literature, and Greek mythology. One can visit King Arthur's Tomb, watch Perseus save Andromeda, spot Pan and the Satyrs, skirt by Cerberus and Hydra, or visit the 'Harbour of Dreamland'. Castles, towers, bridges, and ships dot the landscape. Illustrations and text appear in the style of medieval chronicles. A block of text at bottom relates the story of how Sleigh acquired the map from a gnome in exchange for spiced cookies and a slice of sweet ham and then used it to explore the lands depicted.

Escapism and the Arts and Crafts Movement

As pointed out by map historian Tim Bryars, this map was originally printed in 1918, the final year of World War I. Bryars astutely asks,

Could the map constitute a yearning for a return to pre-1914 Edwardian innocence? Compared with the devastated, bomb-blasted landscape of northern France, this vision of a make-believe land may have seemed a seductive escape for a European society bearing the psychological and physical scars of mass conflict.

Another approach to this map is to study it within the context of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Sleigh was a close associate of Robert Morris and this map clearly follows Arts and Crafts Movement ideology. The typeface and decoration are very much in the style of Morris's Kelmscott Press and its embrace of traditional pre-industrial era production techniques.

Publication History and Census

The original six-foot map was designed by Bernard Sleigh, printed by Griggs and Sons of Peckham, London, and published by Sidgwick and Jackson of Adelphi London in 1918. The present promotional is an unrecorded reprint of the right side of Sleigh's map that appeared in the 1921 Christmas edition The World Magazine. It is far rarer than the original Sleigh maps, and is not listed among the holdings of any institution and has no known history on the market.