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Fauntleroy redirects here. For other uses see Fauntleroy (disambiguation).
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a sentimental children's novel by American (English-born) author Frances Hodgson Burnett, serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1885. It was a runaway hit for the magazine and was separately published in 1886. The book was a commercial success for its author, and its illustrations by Reginal Birch set fashion trends. Little Lord Fauntleroy also set a precedent in copyright law in 1888 when its author won a lawsuit over the rights to theatrical adaptations of the work.

The story concerns an American boy named Cedric, who at an early age finds that he is the sole heir to a British earldom and leaves New York to take up residence in his ancestral castle, where, after some initial resistance, he is joined by his middle-class mother, "Dearest", the widow of the late heir. His grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, intends to teach the boy to become an aristocrat, but Cedric inadvertently teaches his grandfather compassion and social justice and the artless simplicity and motherly love of Dearest warms his heart.

There have been several movie versions of the book produced throughout the years:

The Fauntleroy suit, so well-described by Burnett and realized in Reginald Birch's detailed pen-and-ink drawings, created a major fad for formal dress for American middle-class children:
"What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with lovelocks waving about the handsome, manly little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship." (Little Lord Fauntleroy) The style was modelled upon the so-called "Van Dyke", a standardized fancy dress of the 18th century that was loosely based on children's costume in court circles of Charles I. Thomas Gainsborough's "fancy picture" The Blue BoyNow at the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, California.epitomizes the "Van Dyke". Until the onset of Romanticism towards the end of the 18th century, small children had been dressed as miniature versions of their elders. Clothing Burnett popularized was modeled on the costumes she tailored herself for her two sons, Vivian and Lionel.

In the generation before and after World War I, when all boys under the age of ten were in short pants, under the influence of Birch's illustrations for Little Lord Fauntleroy many middle-class American boys were forced to wear velvet suits with lace collars and sashes and short knee-pants, and to have their hair curled into long ringlets like Cedric, a mode that was considered aristocratic. (Upper-class American boys were in school uniforms modelled on British ones; the upper-class "fancy dress" counterpart of the Fauntleroy suit was a sailor suit with short pants.) After revivals of the fad connected with Mary Pickford's film and the 1936 classic with Freddie Bartholomew, the onset of World War II consigned such outfits to attics.

Fauntleroy Park in West Seattle, Washington, bears no connection with the Fauntleroy craze. Nearby Fauntleroy Cove was named in 1857 by Lt. George Davidson, who was taking soundings in the area, in honor of his betrothed - Ellinor Fauntleroy of Indiana. Fauntleroy Peak in the Olympic Mountains was similarly named.

Trivia

Little Lord Fauntleroy was also Jackie Kennedy's favorite book when she was a child.

Notes

External links

1886 books | 1914 films | 1921 films | 1936 films | Children's clothing | Public domain films

Der kleine Lord | 小公子

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Little Lord Fauntleroy".

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