Citation: George MacDonald, Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1858).

Bulloch (1925):

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women. By George MacDonald. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1858.

8vo, pp. iv + 323 + (1).

This was MacDonald’s first prose work. It took him “two months to write without any close work” (Greville MacDonald’s “George MacDonald,” p. 290). F. D. Maurice introduced him to Smith, Elder,
as possible publishers, and they paid him £50 for the book, including the copyright, and it was published on Oct. 28, 1858. The book, which has a very important bearing on MacDonald’s philosophical outlook, is the subject of a whole chapter (pp. 294-299) in “George MacDonald and his wife” where Greville MacDonald aptly describes it as “a spiritual pilgrimage out of this world of impoverishing possession into the Kingdom of Heaven,” dealing with “the eclipse of truth by the Shadow, whom yet the sun may set speeding into nothingness.” It is much simpler than the companion “Lilith” written thirty-seven years later (1895). Dr. Greville MacDonald suggests that his father was partly inspired by Hoffmann’s fairy story “The Golden Pot,” probably through Carlyle’s translation of 1827. The title, “Phantastes,” was taken from Phineas Fletcher’s “Purple Island” (1633).

MacDonald disliked the review of the book in the Athenaeum (Nov. 6, 1858: p. 580), which described it as “a confusedly furnished second-hand symbol shop.”

  • (1870?) Published by Loring, Boston: 12mo, pp. 286 (New York Pub. Lib.).
  • 1871. Reprinted in ” Works of fancy and imagination,” vols. v. and vi.
  • 1885. Published as no. 1922 of Munro’s Seaside Library, New York, and as no. 236 of the pocket edition of that series.
  • 1894. Published as “Phantastes: a faerie romance ” —the last four words of the original title being omitted— by Chatto & Windus: 8vo, pp. viii + 280: printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., Edinburgh. The feature of this edition was 25 illustrations by John Bett. These illustrations were unauthorised and caused MacDonald acute distress. Dr. Greville MacDonald, who says that “all lovers of the book must have experienced some real grief in turning the pages,” therefore bought up the whole edition, with the copyright, and “turned it into pulp But there is a copy in the British Museum; and there may be others, which could not be recalled.
  • 1905. Published by Arthur C. Fifield, London (8vo, pp. x+320): printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., Edinburgh. Edited by Dr. Greville MacDonald with a preface (pp. vii-viii): with 33 new illustrations by Arthur Hughes.
  • 1915. Published as no. 732 of Dent’s Everyman Library (8vo, pp. xii + 237 + (3)): with introduction (pp. vii-ix) by Greville MacDonald, who complains in “ George MacDonald and his wife ” (p. 298) that Dent has listed it among “Books for Young People.”
  • N.D. Published by McKay, Philadelphia.

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