Mummy's Bedtime Story Book by Marion (Jessie M. King)
Published in 1929, the first thing that strikes me about this book is the wonderful colour pictorial boards in King’s distinctive style.
The title of the book gives away what the book itself is! It is a book of stories designed for bedtime reading to help get the little ones off to sleep. There are 12 short stories all accompanied by pictures which were printed in limited colours but all feature King’s signature elements: angels, fairies, children, lots of flowers and dots.
The stories are:
- Peter and Mary
- The Tiresome Rabbit
- A Lesson in Manners
- Jack Frost
- Mother England
- If One Eats, One Must Work
- The Two Imps
- The Grandfather’s Clock
- The Naughty Boy
- The Country of Let’s Pretend
- Wee Mister Brown
- Where Babies Come From
I think my favourite is the last one – Betty asks her Nurse (after overhearing her mummy and daddy talking about a baby brother due to arrive) “Where do babies come from”? Nurse replies “You ask the fairies in Dreamland to-night, and perhaps they will take you to see!”.
The stories are all quite similar in content and length – questions and problems are answered by visits and talks with fairy folk.
Jessie M. King was a Scottish illustrator, designer and writer during the golden age of book illustration (the late 19th century to the early 20th century). She is renowned for her art nouveau style, but in this book (dedicated to her own babies and their Daddy) her style is more restrained than in her earlier more elaborate works but is still enchanting in its own right. The book is highly collectable today due to its scarcity, as it was published during the interwar years and not many copies survived.
Contributed by Maria
(Published on 14th Oct 2025)
