I’m looking for a hardcover illustrated children’s book that I remember as having some of the most gorgeous illustrations I’ve ever seen. It’s not a novel, it’s more of a picture book. It has very little plot to it, and is more about describing sights and sounds than about a plot. It’s about a princess that goes to a ball (it could be a masquerade, I’m not absolutely sure), at or before midnight and dances with a fairy prince (I think she does, anyway). The ball is held outside on the palace grounds and in a garden maze (as far as I remember). I think the book ends at dawn when all the magical creatures dancing there disappear. It might have been written in poetry form. I think the cover had an illustration of the princess walking down a flight of stairs in a midnight blue dress. I remember the cover itself as being midnight blue, as well as that colour being the main colour of all of the pages. I can’t remember the title. I feel like it had either the word “Midnight” or the word “Mystery” in the title. I remember the clothing pictured as being 18th century-type and there were lots of peacocks and peacock type colours on several of the pages. The book was most probably published somewhere between the late 80s and mid 90s. I’m hoping someone will be able to help me with this. I only wish I could remember more. The illustrations themselves were reminiscent of the work of Graeme Base.
I’m sorry, I can’t help except to say I read the book too. I thought it was called Twilight ___ (something–maybe Masquerade) but when I put that into a search engine, all I get is vampires and werewolves. I thought the illustrator was Robinson, or Robeson, or Robertson…but none of those help either. Whoever it was, I thought he illustrated another book that had a picture of a young boy with round, cracked glasses on the cover. Maybe that will help jog someone’s memory?
Good luck!
After years of searching, you’ve given me fresh hope. At least I now know someone remembers this book! I’m not 100 percent sure there was a prince in the story, or whether I just added that detail from another book I loved called “The Nightwood” by Robin Muller. If you do remember something more about this book, please let me know. I’m pretty sure it was written in verse and I especially remember description of the chomping sounds of goblins eating at this magical ball.