Rainbow Fairy Books

Andrew Lang began compiling fairytales in the late 19th century with the aim of preserving 'the old stories that have pleased so many generations'. Conjuring a universe where stepmothers are invariably wicked, ogres have insatiable appetites and heroes face impossible odds, these stories arouse fear and apprehension yet evoke a spirit of wonder and adventure which remains the key to their universal appeal.

The Red Fairy Book

This bold and eclectic anthology opens with the story of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses' who each night row across the lake with their captured princes and closes with a timeless epic of war and heroism, 'The Story of Sigurd', taken from William Morris's version of The Volsunga Saga. In between are morality tales and animal fables, chilling ghost stories, tongue-in-cheek romances, classics like 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and 'Rapunzel', little-known stories such as 'The True History of Little Goldenhood', which offers a twist on the traditional Red Riding Hood story.

Introduced by Marina Warner. Illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat. 408 pages with 12 full-page colour illustrations

The Yellow Fairy Book

Ships fly, cabbages turn men into donkeys, a childless couple is sent a baby boy the size of a hazelnut, and a dog, a cat and a mouse join forces to retrieve a magic ring. Amongst the 48 stories in The Yellow Fairy Book are much loved classics such as 'Thumbelina' and 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', but in this volume Lang also included wonderfully exotic tales from Russia, Hungary, Iceland and America.

Introduced by Maria Tatar. Illustrated by Danuta Mayer. 384 pages with 12 full-page colour illustrations.

The Green Fairy Book

A passionate collector of folk stories, Andrew Lang oversaw the translation and editing of hundreds of classic tales from around the world. Today his Rainbow Fairy Books remain an enchanting legacy for children, and are widely acknowledged as the best English versions of these stories.

The Green Fairy Book, the latest to be published by Folio, contains a rich range of classic fairy tales, including ‘The Blue Beard’, ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and ‘The Story of the Three Bears’. No matter how far it has travelled, whether courtly entertainment or rustic yarn,each fairytale contains its lessons as well as its adventures: in Charles Deulin’s ‘The Little Soldier’, a soldier learns that an honest fishergirl is preferable to a greedy princess and in Madame D’Aulnoy’s ‘The Blue Bird’, a King and Queen learn the importance of trusting each other.

This lovely new Folio edition is illustrated by Julian de Narvaez with evocative watercolours in the great tradition of children’s illustration.

The Blue Fairy Book

This wonderful collection of fairy stories, put together by Andrew Lang at the end of the 19th century, gathers many of the best loved tales of childhood - 'Old stories', Lang calls them in his preface, 'that have pleased so many generations'. They include the best of the English tradition, favourites from Grimm, Perrault, The Arabian Nights and Gulliver's Travels, as well as lesser-known tales and new re-tellings, such as Lang's own 'The Terrible Head' based on the Greek myth of Perseus and the Gorgon. Reared on border ballads told by his old nurse, Lang was reading by the age of four and devoured 'every fairy tale I could lay my hands on'. He was enthralled by trolls and witches, and stories of changelings and devilish hunts. Later the tales of Shakespeare, Homer and Dickens were to fire his imagination.

Introduced by Joan Aiken. Illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk. 384 pages with 15 full-page colour illustrations