Rare Ethel Jackson Morris – Two Dainty Fairies (1921), ornate framed antique print

A rare and genuine antique 1921 colour offset print by noted Australian illustrator Ethel Jackson Morris, titled “Two Dainty Fairies”, published in her celebrated fairy tale collection The White Butterfly and Other Fairy Tales. Elegantly presented in an exceptional handcrafted timber frame featuring decorative pierced metal overlays, this charming work combines the romance of Australia’s Golden Age of illustration with a striking Arts & Crafts presentation.

37cm x 42cm frame overall 

25cm x 13cm artwork 

Ethel Jackson Morris (1891–1985) was one of Australia’s finest Golden Age illustrators and a contemporary of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. Educated at Melbourne’s National Gallery School between 1910 and 1920, she exhibited with the Victorian Artists’ Society and quickly became recognised for her enchanting fairy illustrations. Morris published her first book, All Among the Fairies, in 1909 at just seventeen years of age before releasing her acclaimed second volume, The White Butterfly and Other Fairy Tales, in 1921, which featured many beautifully reproduced colour plates. Following a successful solo exhibition in Melbourne that same year, she travelled to Europe to study at the Royal Academy before later settling in Sydney. Today her original illustrations and first-edition prints are increasingly sought after by collectors of Australian illustration and children’s literature.