Comments on: What was that book of fantasy illustrations with the secret prize?

Question: What was that book of fantasy illustrations with the secret prize?

hydrophonic — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:25:45 -0800

Lost book question: When I was a kid, our upstairs neighbors lent me a book of wild fantasy illustrations that contained a hidden puzzle. There was a sizable prize for whoever figured out the riddle.

This would be from the late seventies or early eighties, so I could be remembering a lot of things wrong. The book had little or no text. The illustrations were lush, vibrant and detailed--think prog rock album cover, but not Boris Vallejo-style fantasy art. Light-hearted, but definately for the adult hippy/fantasy fan, not kids. There was a mediaeval theme; I think there was a short jester holding a large key. The clues led you to the location of the prize. Or maybe you had to mail in your answer. The prize was worth $50,000--but of course I was a kid with no concept of money, so maybe it was $500.

Am I making this up? Was it a hoax? Did someone actually find the prize?

By: chrismear

chrismear — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:26:54 -0800

Masquerade?

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:34:08 -0800

Masquerade looks different from the book in my memory, but I now have a term for this sort of thing: Armchair treasure hunt.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:34:29 -0800

What chrismear said. I still have my copy.

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:34:52 -0800

Wow, I hadn't heard about the scandal before. That's really depressing. I think reading this book as a kid is why I always keep an eye out for acrostics in experimental fiction (and they're often there).

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:36:49 -0800

Pictures (and puzzle solutions) here.

By: puppet

puppet — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:43:33 -0800

Thanks for bringing back a childhood memory.
We were given the opportunity to solve the masquerade puzzle in my elementary school (4th grade), but I never learned what really happened. I vaguely remember hearing about the hare pendant when it was in the news (I guess after being discovered) but I was too young to pay much attention at the time.
I hope you find the one you're looking for hydrophonic.

By: nelleish

nelleish — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:52:35 -0800

Could it have been either Unicornis or Dragontooth? Both are very text heavy but have lovely medieval illustrations and illuminated pages and both end with hints to find a prize which is photographed (a unicorn horn sword and dragontooth dagger, repsectively). I remember pouring over both extensively as a child, and I'm pretty sure the dog-earred copies are still on the shelves at my folks' house. Here are some of the illustrations form Unicornis

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:12:38 -0800

There sure are a lot of these things. But after seeing the pictures, I think Masquerade is right. It's heavy on the surrealism and has text around the border, both of which seem very close to what I had in mind. I guess with the fallibility of memory I'll never know for sure.

Funny how I thought it was for adults. I might be mixing it up with the covers of those prog rock lp's I also borrowed. Those neighbors of mine were very cool--I still have the Robert Crumb comic they gave me.

By: goo

goo — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:16:02 -0800

I remember a jester holding a key in The Ultimate Alphabet by Mike Willis, but your description of the book reminds me of MAZE by Christopher Manson.

By: goo

goo — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:16:29 -0800

D'oh! Must. Preview.

By: booth

booth — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:57:39 -0800

Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base is another book of that type, and I thought there was a real-life contest involved, but I don't see any evidence of that on its Wikipedia page.

By: ericb

ericb — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:06:42 -0800

Previous MeFi threads on similar puzzles/treasure hunts - 1, 2.