author

Harold Gaze

A New Zealand-born writer and illustrator, he created strange, playful fantasy worlds that stood out in early twentieth-century children's books. His stories mixed fairy-tale charm with oddball creatures, humor, and a vivid visual imagination.

1 Audiobook

Coppertop: The Queer Adventures of a Quaint Child

Coppertop: The Queer Adventures of a Quaint Child

by Harold Gaze

About the author

Born around 1885 in New Zealand, Harold Gaze was a children's author and illustrator whose work developed across several countries. AustLit records that he published in Australia between 1918 and 1921, later had books appear in New Zealand and London, and moved to Pasadena in 1927, where he held solo exhibitions in Los Angeles during the 1930s.

His books are remembered for taking fairyland in a less traditional direction. Rather than simply repeating European fairy-tale patterns, his stories and pictures used unusual fantasy beings, comic touches, and imaginative visual detail to build a more eccentric world.

Gaze both wrote and illustrated his own books, and his artwork ranged across watercolor, silhouette, and line drawing. Reliable image sources located during this search did not provide a clear usable portrait, so no profile image is included here.