View source for Review:The Case of the Cottingley Fairies/Philip K. Wilson

{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles
 |Date=1990-09-01
 |Book=The Case of the Cottingley Fairies
 |BookAuthor=Joe Cooper
 |Reviewer=Philip K. Wilson
 |Topics=Investigation
}}
This review of the book ''"The Case of the Cottingley Fairies", by Joe Cooper'', was written by [[Philip K. Wilson]] and published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 3) in september 1990.


== Review ==
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1990-09-p229-review-cooper.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (september 1990, p. 229)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1990-09-p230-review-cooper.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (september 1990, p. 230)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1990-09-p231-review-cooper.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (september 1990, p. 231)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1990-09-p232-review-cooper.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (september 1990, p. 232)]]

: [[File:Robert-hale-1990-the-case-of-the-cottingley-fairies.jpg|100px]]
: '''The Case of the Cottingley Fairies'''
: by Joe Cooper
: Robert Hale, London, 1990; xv + 169pp.; £11.95


'''Reviewed by Philip K. Wilson'''

In March 1990, the British Museum staged an intriguing exhibit entitled Fake: The An of Deception. Display number 76 of this exhibit was devoted to the Cottingley Fairy photographs. It is both ironic and apropos that, in the following month, The Cottingley Fairies were brought before the public in another display; this time of writing talent, in Joe Cooper's ''The Case of the Cottingley Fairies''. Since the case is much more thoroughly treated by the latter, one can only hope that interest will be stimulated in the throngs of people visiting the British Museum exhibit to seek further explanations through Cooper's book.

Most [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] buffs are probably familiar with this incident by name, although they might be wary of elaborating if pressed for the details. Cooper's work, dedicated to the ''two amiable adventuresses'' central to his story, introduces his readers to ''The Case of the Cottingley Fairies'' in nine brief, chronologically arranged chapters which comprise the first half of his book, a section he entitled the ''Beginnings''. These seventy pages recap the scenario in which two "village kids", Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, claim to have seen fairies in Cottingley, a Bradford suburb in the Yorkshire dales, one summer in the midst of The Great War (1917). Moreover, with the help of a Midg camera borrowed from Elsie's father, Arthur Wright, the girls took two photographs, upon which the images of fairies appeared. This incident, as Cooper describes, altered not only the lives of these two girls, but also the lives of many other individuals whom they encountered over the next sixty years, including that of Cooper himself.

Intermingled throughout the ''Beginnings'', and the nine following chapters of the book, collectively named the ''Endings'', readers encounter various investigators drawn, for one reason or another, to explore or exploit this case. Here, for example, we find Edward Gardner, [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] and Geoffrey Hodson offering their time, their moral support, and their reputations through their involvement with the case. On the other hand, the Briggs-based Folklore Society, steeped into and renowned for fairy studies, cast a critical frown upon the photographs. Additionally, we are reminded of James Randi's attempt to debunk the Cottingley Fairy case as he analytically destroyed the evidential photographs in his 1980 book ''Flim Flam''.

Midway through the book, I became aware of the attention this case had previously received, and began to question whether yet another account of it could offer any new contribution. This query was soon clarified when I understood how Cooper has trodden in the paths of both camps - the ''believers'' and their critics - at different times during the twenty-odd years he has held a particular interest in the case. Thus, unlike previous presentations of The Cottingley Fairies, one could hope that the well-qualified Cooper could offer relatively unbiased writing, and clarify some of the turnarounds this case has taken in the past. And on these grounds, Cooper certainly does not fail his readers.

Of particular interest to fellow readers of [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]], is the extensive coverage Cooper allotted to [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s involvement in the case. As Cooper states, the case began to move "more swiftly" after the "creator of [[Sherlock Holmes]] met his real life Watson (i.e. Edward Gardner)" (p. 30). Chapter 5, ''Watson — the Game is Afoot'' details the initial correspondence between [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] and Gardner, the president of the Blavatsky (Theosophical) Lodge in London. Most of this correspondence is presently held in the Brotherton Collection at Leeds University Library. In it we find that, although [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] admitted a personal interest in the case, his interest was primarily centred around an article on fairies which he was writing for [[The Strand Magazine|The Strand]]. And since [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] was preparing for a spiritualism/psychic phenomena lecture tour of Australia at the time of Gardner's first writing, he left much of the original investigation of the case to Gardner. Although Cooper convincingly demonstrates that [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] never relinquished an advisory role in the case, it would have been more engrossing if Cooper had contextualised [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] and Gardner more than solely through their correspondence.

In the following chapter, Cooper provides [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s rapturous response to Gardner's information that more photographs had been taken in Cottingley which also showed fairies. [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]], still in Australia, congratulated Gardner's work on the case and noted that "once our fairies are admitted [,] other psychic phenomena will find a more ready acceptance." Furthermore, he stated his belief at the time that the fairy photographs must be the "visible sign" which had been foretold at earlier seances. Cooper comments that such passages in [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s correspondence will provide "[[Arthur Conan Doyle|Doyle]] scoffers" their "evidence of the waning of his critical powers" (p. 42). Further chapters are devoted to the articles on The Cottingley Fairies which appeared in [[The Strand Magazine|The Strand]] and in [[The Coming of the Fairies]]. Although Cooper described much of these written accounts, he devoted very little space to the Critics and Champions which these writings engendered. As this area has yet to be fully explored, it would have been informative to have learned of the relative responses made through the press, for example, than simply having a tew select responses detailed. Yet, the author did begin to analyse the writings by noting the relative contribution which [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] and Gardner made to the writings which appeared only under the name of the former. Moreover, Cooper provided clean copies of The Cottingley Fairy photographs in his book, enabling the reader to "play detective". In addition, there are eleven pages of other well-selected photographic reproductions of artwork, letters and photographs which are most useful in helping readers to recreate the case visually.

Cooper's detective work flourishes in the second portion of the book where, without over-indulgence, Cooper himself features as the detective involved in "fairy resuscitation". This part of the case began in 1965 when Cooper, admittedly a "spiritual optimist", noticed a report in [[Daily Express|The Daily Express]] following up the case of The Cottingley Fairies which had, for most interested parties, ended some forty years earlier. In particular, Cooper appears to have been struck by Elsie, who had been recently quoted as saying that the photographs were "pictures of figments of our imagination" (p. 76). From here, Cooper sets up the sequence of events which culminated in his participation in the re-investigation of the case, with Elsie and Frances, in a 1976 YTV documentary. Thus, in opposition to the scepticism which seemed to have prevailed, smothering the fairy flame during the 1920s and 1930s. Cooper appears as the "championing" spark, rekindling the human nature behind Elsie's and Frances' beliefs. At least, until August 1981, when Frances, then 73, telephoned Cooper stating that there were "some things you should know."

Dumbfounded upon receiving their confessions of trickery, Cooper subsequently aided the reporting of "the truth" in late 1982/early 1983.

Colin Wilson summed up Cooper's book in the Foreword he wrote far it, claiming that this work, in "one single spectacular investigation" has provided him a "permanent place in the history of psychical research." When considering Cooper's personal commitment to this investigation, and the book as described so far, I have only to step back and add applause to Colin Wilson's praise. And, since I certainly do not have the knowledge base of occult matters or fairies, nor the successful accomplishments of Colin Wilson, perhaps I should close this review with his comments. However, I feel that I must add my true confession over a few particular problems I encountered, particularly towards the end of this book, in an attempt to raise questions and considerations for future readers.

Considering Cooper's social science interests, it is likely that he considers the final chapter of the book, ''Summing Up'', his real tour de force. For example, Cooper's analysis behind the way one might answer the question "Did Elsie, or Frances, or both, see fairies at Cottingley?", is well drawn out. Yet, readers should be aware that in the last half of this chapter, Cooper moves off into the theoretical; examining knowledge, happiness, and the role that fairies may play in the acquisition of each. Overall, not bad food for thought, particularly as it invites readers to consider ways in which fairies as a belief are important.

Cooper might, however, have carried readers less abruptly into this chapter without casting them in the rapids of the preceding one. In that chapter, Cooper breaks away from his historical journalistic investigative account, and attempts to relate the case toa broader socio-cultural analysis. No, on another reading, this chapter is a hodge-podge of seemingly random writings, primarily poetry, on fairies and on war, which were first published in the early twentieth century. This may have been designed as an attempt to show similarities which arise in the poetical expression of two uncertainties: fairies and warfare. Frankly, I am just not convinced by the author's suggestions, and I find this chapter more of an obstacle than a clarification towards the summing up which follows.

Additionally, Cooper uses Holmes and Watson in an Epilogue, this time in pastiche form, with Watson as author and narrator. The very idea of using Holmes and Watson in this work bothers me. In one sense, I believe that making direct association with [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s literary characters reduces the scholarship of Cooper's otherwise serious study. In another sense, the case had been concluded around Elsie and Frances, whereas [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s involvement had been confined to earlier chapters (and, indeed earlier decades ''-Ed''). Thus, re-introducing [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] in the Epilogue seemed somewhat abrupt and unnecessary, and it is always somewhat disheartening to read pastiches using unoriginal characters in a style quite unlike that in which they were originally introduced. It remains to me a mystery why so many authors continue to mix [[Sherlock Holmes|Holmes]] and [[Dr. Watson|Watson]] into their writings which involve seemingly unrelated aspects of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s life.

It is a most rewarding factor of this book that the author had been involved in earlier stages of the re-investigation of the case. Unfortunately, few historical works are able to offer this particular ingredient and, since the ''Case of the Cottingley Fairies'' represents a labour close to the author's heart, I feel justified in also having emphasised his personal involvement in the case. Although the author presented the Cottingley Fairy Photographs as a case, rather than a tale, there appears to be no reason why this telling should not live happily ever after.








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