Commercial Appeal: Scientist John Fain drawn to artistic variety of a children's classic

By Jonathan Devin, Memphis Commercial AppealSaturday, July 4, 2009

Memphian John Fain has a personal library with hundreds of books, but more than 100 of them are different versions of the same book.

The book is "A Child's Garden of Verses," a collection of 58 children's poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author best known for his novels, including "Treasure Island," "Kidnapped" and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

University of Tennessee Health Science Center professor John Fain has more than 100 copies of "A Child's Garden of Verses," and keeps them on a shelf in his office. He received his first copy at age 3, and has been collecting the book since the 1970s.

A childhood gift of the classic children's book developed over the years into a passion for artistic style through the decades. Of his collection, Fain said "It's a reflection of the changing styles of illustration."

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