Reggie Oliver - The Hauntings at Tankerton Park

 Zagava Books recently published "The Hauntings at Tankerton Park" written and illustrated by Reggie Oliver.  In place of a description I will provide a quote from the author that best summarizes the book..

“I just finished the last of the ninety odd drawings for a sort of children’s book entitled: The Hauntings at Tankerton Park – and how they got rid of them, a tale in verse… The words I wrote some time ago but the drawings have taken ages. I say ‘sort of’ children’s book because I wrote and drew it really to amuse myself and though it’s just the sort of book that I would have loved as a child, I was a peculiar sort of child (still am) and it might be too macabre for some. It is about a Victorian haunted house, quite mad and part of it is a rhyming alphabet.”
—Reggie Oliver

The book opens with the following text..

“In the year Eighteen ninety, a banker called Clark 
Bought a place in the country called Tankerton Park 
Mr Clark, Mrs Clark, with Laura and Faye 
Their two little daughters, moved in one March day.
And with them came Ron, their pet dog, and a horse
And the usual posse of servants of course.
They found the place elegant roomy and smart,
But terribly troublesome right from the start.
Some quite inexplicable things would appear
Which struck the whole household with horror and fear
The strangest thing was that they could record a
Sequence of haunts in alphabet order”

 The Hauntings at Tankerton Park can be purchased at the Zagava website here.

Josef Tomasek

The title "Slunecniku, Mesicniku a Vetrniku - setkani s darcem" apparently translates to.. "Parasol, Monthly and Vetrniku - Meeting With Donors"

A small handful of other works by Tomasek can be found here.

Artus Scheiner (1863-1938)

Illustration from "Vo lakomy selce"


Illustration from "Matysek a wizard"


Illustration from Karel Jaromír Erben- Zlatovláska, Princess Goldie


Artus Scheiner - Illustration from "Vo haltravsky meluzine"


Illustration from "Kunifer"


Illustration for Czech National Fairy Tale, from collection by Bozena Nemcova, 1913


Artus Scheiner - Illustration for Czech National Fairy Tale, from collection by Bozena Nemcova, 1913


Artus Scheiner - Robbers of the Enchanted Forest


Illustration from Karel Jaromir Erben's "Goldilocks and Other Czech Fairy Tales"


Jirka With A Goat


Illustration for Czech National Fairy Tale, from collection by Bozena Nemcova, 1913


Illustration from T. E. Tisovský - King Mouselet And Prince Youth - The Bold Dwarfs´Adventures, 1905


Illustration from "Rozum a Stesti"


Illustration from J. S. Kubín´s Under Command Of Magic. 1920's


Illustration from "Tri zlate vlasy deda Vseveda"


Illustration from J. Š. Kubín´s Under Command Of Magic, 1920's

Illustration from "Fairy Tales For Adults" written by Jean Qui Rit



Illustration from The Magical Gate, 1932
Removal of the Trolls, before 1938


A somewhat awkwardly translated biography on the artist can be found at Wikipedia.

Image sources include, Wikimedia Commons, is.muni and 50 Watts.

Josef Vachal (1884 - 1969)

A Walpurgis Night's Dream, 1914


Elementary Plan of Passions and Instincts


Decorations for Czech Puppets


Incubus (Succubus), 1907


Temptation of Saint Anthony


Satanic Invocation, 1909


Samiel on Sonnberg


Demon Heads


Alchemist, 1910





Revolution, 1928


The Cloaca of the Street, 1910





Astarte's Mass, 1907


Sabbath, 1911


Dead Man's Dream, 1918


Messenger, 1915


Josef Belial, illustration from "The Devil's Garden," 1924


Moorland Demon, 1932

"Josef Váchal (September 23, 1884 in Milavče near Domažlice – May 10, 1969 in Studeňany) was a Czech writer, painter, printmaker and book-printer.

Váchal was the son of Josef Aleš-Lyžec and Anna Váchalová - his parents never married. He was brought up by his grandparents, Jan Aleš and Jana Alešová, in the southern Bohemian town of Písek, where he entered grammar school but left it prematurely. In 1898 Váchal moved to Prague, where he studied bookbinding and befriended his father's cousin, the painter Mikoláš Aleš. He was influenced by Art Nouveau during that time.

In 1900 he wrote his first poems, by 1903 he joined the Prague Theosophy Society, in 1904 he entered the Painter School and later became a respected painter and graphic designer. In 1910 Váchal published his first two books. Between January 1912 and January 1913 he enjoyed a short but intense friendship with the mystical Catholic writer Jakub Deml. In March 1913, Váchal married Máša Pešulová, and began a friendship with the collector J. Portman; Portman's house Portmoneum is now the Váchal Museum in Litomyšl.

From 1916 to 1918 Váchal served as a soldier on the Italian front. During 1940, expressing resistance against Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, he moved from Prague to the village of Studeňany ('tusculum' or 'exile'). After the communist revolution of 1948 in Czechoslovakia, he became more socially and culturally isolated and his works were rarely seen in public. He lived in obscurity on the family estate of his partner, Anna Macková, in Studeňany. Even with the coming of Prague Spring in the late 1960s his situation didn’t significantly change. He was, however, awarded the state title of Meritorious Artist (Zasloužilý umělec) shortly before his death in 1969. He is buried in the village of Radim near Jičín, eastern Bohemia." - quote source


Artworks found at www.vachal.cz, Album of the Magic Search Exhibit. A video showcasing the entirety of a recently published book of Vachal's art can be viewed here.

Parade of Monsters, 1560-1600

No artist is attached to this series of etchings in the Italian school/style dated from 1560-1600.  Artworks found at The British Museum.