Sometimes a book just falls into your hands off a shelf in a shop or out of a mixed box and, whilst there is no question of you actually reading it, something about it, an inscription, the illustrations, the binding... something charms you. This is what happened with The Good Master a children's book written an illustrated by Hungarian born Kate Seredy (1899-1975). I once heard an antiques expert say that the most desirable antiques are always those which speak very loudly of their own period, and I'm sure this is true of books and illustration too. The 1930s sing out of these illustrations, particularly I think in the Pegasus towards the bottom and also the two men working the fields. The story itself is a compendium of Hungarian folk-stories woven around Jansci and his cousin Kate, although it is not autobiographical.
