William Bowen 4 hr 11 min read

A doublet with a missing button, a dark mansion in a walled park, a Black Prince, and a unicorn named Alb whose hair alone can sew the button on, the frame for a garland of nested fairy tales.

William Bowen's 1922 book is a charming, intricately told fantasy for children in the Arabian Nights manner. Whimsical, magical, beautifully wrought. Read it for a delightful storybook-within-a-storybook, where a humble tailor's quest for a unicorn's hair opens onto tale after wondrous tale.

In its time

Published in 1922, during the 1920s, the pulp era proper.

Reading it

4 hr 11 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).

Illustrated by

J. Ormsbee