The 19th century

Stories about fantasy has always been around, fairytales, myths, the bible, and folklore all of those contains examples on what fantasy is about.
Fantasy as we see it today, started to form as its own genre in the middle/end of the 19th century.
The "father of fantasy" is in my opinion George MacDonald. In 1858 he wrote a fantastic story without adding lectures and allegorys which earlier similar stories had done, the story was called "Phantastes, A Faerie Romance for Men and Women", (1858). MacDonald stories takes place in a world that was closer to a second to a "secondary world" than settings other authors had created.
MacDonald was also acquainted with one of the most important among the earlier fantasywriters: William Morris.
William Morris (1834-1896) was planning to become a priest but abandoned those plans after visiting France and gained interest in arts. He's mostly known as a designer but since his days at school he had always been interested in literature and was even offered a place as poet at the court, but refused because of his political conviction.

- The 19th century, continued

Books at Amazon.co.uk (England):
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy John Clute, John Grant (1996)
St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers
Phantastes

Books at Amazon.com (USA):
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy John Clute, John Grant (1996)
St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers
Phantastes

http://hem.passagen.se/gumby/
Calle Åsman [emsworth [at] gmx [dot] net]