The Yellow Fairy Book

Andrew Lang, Henry Justice Ford

Courier Corporation, Jan 1, 1966 - Juvenile Fiction - 321 pages

The Yellow Fairy Book is a wonderful collection of tales from all over the world. There are such familiar old favorites as the "Story of the Emperor's New Clothes," "The Tinder-box," "How to Tell a True Princess," and "The Nightingale." There are less familiar tales by Madame d'Aulnoy and from the collections of Andersen and Grimm. Many tales come from Hungary, Poland, and Russia, and there are German, French, and English stories, too. There are traditional tales of the American Indians, and three others come from Iceland. All in all, this collection contains 48 stories, all narrated in the clear, lively prose for which Lang was famous. Not only are Lang's generally conceded to be the best English versions of standard stories, his collections are the richest and widest in range.

About the author

Andrew Lang was born at Selkirk in Scotland on March 31, 1844. He was a historian, poet, novelist, journalist, translator, and anthropologist, in connection with his work on literary texts. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, St. Andrews University, and Balliol College, Oxford University, becoming a fellow at Merton College. His poetry includes Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), Ballades in Blue China (1880--81), and Grass of Parnassus (1888--92). His anthropology and his defense of the value of folklore as the basis of religion is expressed in his works Custom and Myth (1884), Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887), and The Making of Religion (1898). He also translated Homer and critiqued James G. Frazer's views of mythology as expressed in The Golden Bough. He was considered a good historian, with a readable narrative style and knowledge of the original sources including his works A History of Scotland (1900-7), James VI and the Gowrie Mystery (1902), and Sir George Mackenzie (1909). He was one of the most important collectors of folk and fairy tales. His collections of Fairy books, including The Blue Fairy Book, preserved and handed down many of the better-known folk tales from the time. He died of angina pectoris on July 20, 1912.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Yellow Fairy Book; Dover Children's Classics Series
• Authors: Andrew Lang, Henry Justice Ford
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Courier Corporation, 1966
• ISBN: 0486216748, 9780486216744
• Length: 321 pages
• Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / Classics; Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore / Anthologies; Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore / General