 Cicely Mary Barker ( 28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973 ) was an English illustrator best known for a series of fantasy illustrations depicting fairies and flowers . Barker 's art education began in girlhood with correspondence courses and instruction at the Croydon School of Art . Her earliest professional work included greeting cards and juvenile magazine illustrations , and her first book , Flower Fairies of the Spring , was published in 1923 . Similar books were published in the following decades . 
 Cicely Mary Barker ( 28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973 ) was an English illustrator best known for a series of fantasy illustrations depicting fairies and flowers . Barker <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>art education began in girlhood with correspondence courses and instruction at the Croydon School of Art . Her earliest professional work included greeting cards and juvenile magazine illustrations , and her first book , Flower Fairies of the Spring , was published in 1923 . Similar books <a href='uninflect' title='2'><mark>were</mark></a> published in the following decades . 
Cicely Mary Barker ( 28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973 ) was an English illustrator best known for a series of fantasy illustrations depicting fairies and flowers . Barker  art education began in girlhood wit correspondence courses and instruction at the Croydon School of Art . Her earliest professional work included greeting cards and juvenile magazine illustrations , and her first book , Flower Fairies of da Spring , was published in 1923 . Similar books was published in the following decades .