John (Johnny) Barton Gruelle (1880 – 1938) left an indelible mark on American popular culture in a 40 year career as a political cartoonist, children's book and comics author/illustrator, and most notably as the creator of the Raggedy Ann and Andy. The son of Myrtle Gruelle and Hoosier Group painter Richard Gruelle, he grew up in Indianapolis, IN at the center of a vibrant community of artists and writers. Among his parents’ friends was the poet James Whitcomb Riley, whose poems Little Orphant Annie (1885) and The Raggedy Man (1888) were the inspiration for the names of Gruelle’s famous characters. Our First Edition signed and inscribed copy of Friendly Fairies is part of the P.F. Volland Company Happy Children Book series published in 1919. The work contains 15 fairy tales including The Fairy Ring, The Three Little Gnomes and Mr. & Mrs. Thumbkins with imaginative, color pictorial boards and illustrations throughout. Gruelle filed a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll in 1915; these illustrations and stories are from the very beginning of a unique career that would leave a legacy of delight in literature, film, and art to the present day. Condition: Very good with bumping to the cover boards and shadow on second inside page. Dimensions: 9".25 x 6.25" x .5".