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JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH (american 1863-1935) "THE GOBLINS FELL BACK A LITTLE WHEN HE BEGAN, AND MADE HORRIBLE GRIMACES ALL THROUGH THE RHYME" Signed ''Jessie Willcox Smith'' bottom right, mixed media on board 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6cm) provenance: The Collection of Margaret and Florence Hoopes. Acquired from the above. From the collection of the late Katherine M. Welding. note: The current lot is an original work that was used as an illustration in George MacDonald''s famous children''s book The Princess and the Goblin. The fairy tale was first published in 1872 by Strahan and Co. In 1920, another version was published in Philadelphia by David McKay Company, with Willcox Smith''s illustrations engraved and printed by the Beck Engraving Company. In the story, eight-year-old Princess Irene lives in a desolate kingdom alongside a vengeful race of goblins who inhabit nearby caves. The princess befriends a young miner named Curdie, and together they have adventures involving the goblins and other characters in the kingdom. The present illustration depicts Curdie in a cave with the goblins, intimidating them with his knowledge of their anatomical weakness: soft, vulnerable feet.