Those of us lucky enough to have been born in the late 1970s might remember a little gem of a show called Faerie Tale Theatre. It began in 1982 and featured Shelley Duvall as the host and oft required fairy tale land lady in distress. Two things have brought this show into my odd little mind as of late.
This past Saturday my sister was supposed to receive The Shining via Netflix but it seems a lot of other people in the Portland
An even better Saturday occurrence was a random stop at Goodwill out in Tigard. While looking through the children’s book the title Rumpelstiltskin popped out from the typical smattering of stories about counting your fingers and toes.
Before I even pulled the book off the shelf my mind went directly to Shelley Duvall as the Miller’s Daughter and the title roll being played by Hervé Villechaize (in a roll showing he could do much more than point up at the sky and yell about planes).
I forgot all about that as soon as I looked at the book's cover or should I say it’s extremely fantastic – in fine condition – dust jacket. Have a look:
My readers should know by now how much I adore Edward Gorey. He illustrated this version of the Grimm Brother’s Tale retold by Edith Tarcov, published by Four Winds Press and published in 1974. The copyright is 1973 (Scholastic published a soft cover version before this one).
At Oldimprints we have a copy of Goreyography by Henry Toledano. It is an excellent resource for identifying just how awesome or not your particular Edward Gorey book is. My Rumpelstiltskin is the first edition published by Four Winds Press which is thrilling for me as a collector.
I might just have to see if I can put Faerie Tale Theatre in my Netflix queue.
