Ampersands & Phantoms
“If you want to read it as a mystery, a clue is: the bald spot.”
So reads the inner flap to Ellen Raskin’s 1974 young adult novel Figgs & Phantoms. Raskin’s second novel (and twelfth book) wraps playful meditations on life, death, identity, family, and dreams in a mysterious romance (or a romantic mystery). Raskin created the cover, supplied several illustrations, and designed the intricate playbill and posters that add to the story.
The original edition of the book, pictured above, featured Raskin’s illustration and design on the cover. This isn’t the case of a publisher pacifying an author and letting them satisfy their visual artist dreams. Raskin was a respected illustrator in her own right — most notably creating the cover for Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.
Mona Newton Figg is the youngest of the eccentric Figg family of Pineapple, made up of a human pretzel, tap dancer, dog trainer, walking-talking-adding-machine, and more. The legend of the Figg heaven, the island of Capri, has been handed down through the family’s history. Each member has their own notion of how to reach the mythical Capri — numbers, books, the body — and Raskin delights in tracing these paths and playing with meaning.
“That Mona Newton is a Figg, all right,” the people of Pineapple said. “Looks like a Figg, acts like a Figg. Balances like her uncle Truman the Human Pretzel. Memorizes like Romulus, the Walking Book of Knowledge. Figres like Remus, the Talking Adding Machine. Short too, like Florence, though she’s still growing — both ways. Wouldn’t be so bad if she took after her cute mother, but she’s going to end up looking like Kadota, and she doesn’t even like dogs.
“Capri,” the people of Pineapple said. “Leave it to the Figgs to have some crazy religion of their own. They think their souls will go to a place called Capri when they die. Not the real Capri, but another world altogether. Just as well. Who would want to go to heaven if the Figgs were going to be there.
Also central to Figgs & Phantoms are books. Mona’s uncle Florence Italy Figg, a rare bookseller, and searches for Capri amongst the worn pages of books. Raskin designed the playful handbills, signs, and notes using a combination of Playbill, Chisel, and News Gothic. Her copious ampersands (a running gag/symbol) are set in Garamond.
Her attention to detail in the books is exquisite — she was careful to design the books so that they were easy for children to read. This includes minimizing line breaks, increasing margins to the size of a child’s thumb, and keeping the length under 200 pages. There’s more detail at the University of Wisconsin’s Ellen Raskin site, featuring a working copy and notes from Raskin’s more famous, Newbery Award winning book, The Westing Game.
The playful, mysterious nature even pops up in the About the author page:
Ellen Raskin lives in many worlds: in the world of books, in the world of dreams, and in New York City where she writes and illustrates in an 1820 haunted house.
Ellen Raskin passed away at the age of 56 in 1984.