| Louis XI |
One of Prospero's many books in his library included "the wizard's florid script; on some pages were pentacles, pentagrams, and doodles, these latter being usually pictures of bearded patriarchs, pharaohs and King Louis XI of France, who, as far as Prospero was concerned look like this: (see top right) [The Face in the Frost, 5].
Oddly enough it appears Bellairs was probably one of the biggest modern-day fans of Louis XI, as Myers can attest. He owns one of Bellairs' caricatures of the spider king, taken from his inscribed edition of The Pedant and the Shuffly. While Bellairs' most frequent doodle decorated letters and cards throughout his life to various people, Myers' copy is the last one he still possesses.
"John liked to draw him wearing his favorite peaked cloth hat, with medals of various saints forming a ring around the rim. Louis would pray to a given saint for success in one of his endeavors, and if that saint didn't come through for him, Louis would demote his medal to the back of his hat. John also greatly appreciated the fact that Louis kept a cardinal, not of the avian but of the Prince of the Church variety, in a cage in his castle."
Incidentally the reissued Olmstead Press version of The Face in the Frost, being small, easy-to-carry, and a nice clean copy of the text, lacks any sort of illustration by Marilyn Fitschen, including the one seen above of Louis XI. That image is reduced to the following passage:
"....King Louis XI of France who, as far as Prospero was concerned, looked like Cyrano de Bergerac with a lumpy Roman nose." (page 9, Olmstead Press, 2000)
Hantsoo owns the Recorded Books version and notes the same thing happens there, the doing away completely with the phrase "whom Prospero thought looked like this...," "leaving us (gasp) deprived of a few words."
|
| |
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XI |
|
|
|
| Louis XI: as drawn by Marilyn Fitschen for inclusion in The Face in the Frost (top); as drawn by John Bellairs in a handwritten book dedication to Al Myers (bottom). |
|
