Note:

• "Andrew Lang has written a story, "The Princess Nobody", in which the fairies figure." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch 1884-08-04 p4 "Men of Mark" (first of perhaps 20, quoted in full)
• "Lang is writing a story ... which will be published with Richard Doyle's well-known series of pictures ..." --NY Times 1884-08-11 p3
• (quote) Mr. Andrew Lang has boldly essayed to write a fairy tale "after the drawings by Richard Doyle". Of course the drawings have been published before--and more of them than are here--in the most precious and beautiful of all fairy books. [...] long out of print [...] Mr. Lang is properly diffident as to his capacity to write anything worthy [...] But there is probably no living man of letters better qualified to seize and reproduce the spirit of the old fairy tales than Mr. Lang; and, despite an irreverent modern touch here and there, he has done a difficult thing very gracefully and well. To the knowing ones this little book will perhaps be the book of the Christmas season. --The Manchester Guardian 1884-11-19 p7 "Christmas Books: III", lead item

Synopsis: A fairy tale written to accompany Doyle's drawings printed in color. "The story is freely and whimsically modeled after the old-fashioned fairy tales [really?]; ... Here are fairies ... some lolling upon leaves in Bacchanalian attitudes ... 'Teasing a Butterfly' is composed of rowdy imps--the very gamins of Fairyland. ... War between egg-stealing elves and the birds is quite in the Pompeiian vein of humor." --review Chi. Tribune 1884-12-15 p9 "Literature", under "Books for the Young" In review of the book more than the story, "the tale of the Princess Niente ... has the flavor of the 'Arabian Nights'. --SF Chronicle 1884-12-14 p6, under "Holiday Juveniles"