Customer Reviews

12 Books in 1: Andrew Lang's Complete "Fairy Book" Series. The Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Pink, Grey, Violet, Crimson, Brown, Orange, Olive, and Lilac ... and Fairy Stories From Around The World.

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Having read Lang's Fairy stories when I was younger, I was truly looking forward to receiving this volume. To say the least, I was very dissappointed when I received it. How does this book fail? Let me count the ways;

1) The beautiful illustrations that I remember so well, are gone. There is not one illustration in the entire volume.

2) The Table of Contents is sorely lacking. The individual stories are not listed; only the books. Trying to find a specific story is challenging, to say the least. An index would have been helpful.

3) The print is SO tiny, that severe eye-strain is a definite probability.

4) What is with the tree frog on the cover?

My suggestion is, if you wish to read Lang's Fairy Book series, buy them individually. They are truly wonderful stories, but this volume is NOT the way to proceed. Buying them individually will assuredly cost more, but it will be well worth the price.

I was so excited to see that all of the "color book" fairy tale collections were gathered in one place. When I received the book I was VERY disappointed. No thought was given this volume, from the inappropriate cover image (stock photography of a rainforest frog?) to the pages within : no illustrations, no consideration given to the needs of the reader at all (just dense columns of small type intended solely to minimize the number of pages.) Poorly bound. All of which combine to remove any pleasure from reading these delightful stories.

Look for the individual colored books .... they're worth the effort.

I was very happy to find a book that contained all the "Fairy Books". However, the printing is so small you need a magnifying glass to read it. It is also very difficult to find the fairy tale you want because there is no index. If I had to do it over again I would buy the books individually, it is worth the investment

The format of this book is AWFUL- as unattractive as you could possibly imagine and on fairly cheap paper as well. Had I known it would be as bad as it was I would never have bought it.

The publishing of this is truly dreadful. There is no complete table of contents, no clear divisions between stories, and the cover stock is very shabby. The stories run into one another, the different "fairy books" run into each other, and everything is in a two column layout with a small font.

A basic rule of desktop publishing is to use similar graphic images throughout a piece. The cover and spine of this book look like stock clip art and a stock photo. Why a tree frog? And then clip-art of the wolf in Granny's nightclothes? Dreadful. The only good part about there being only two graphics used for the piece is that there were only two.

I do not understand why they did not use one of the original illustrations used in the Andrew Lang series of books. To be honest, I only bought this because I wanted all the stories in one volume. Now, I wish I had sprung for buying each volume individually. A previous reviewer said this. Believe it!

So, buy this book if you want all of the Andrew Lang fairy stories in one volume--but expect the cover to become ruined in the first reading, the spine to break, and your eyes to strain.

So true. I should have read the reviews before buying. No illustrations or index, no editorial material of any kind. I believe the frog on the cover was thought to include all 12 colours, and thereby be a suitable mascot. Quite impossible to retrieve a story.

Alternatives: Dover publishes all 12 volumes separately, with good black-and-white line drawings. Wait for a sale, yaffle the lot for about twice the price here.
Folio Society is embarking on a *beautiful* series of hardbacks, six out so far, about $85 each, but gorgeous bindings and illustrations. Start with
Red & Blue, which have many of the standards, and move on from ther

Unreadable rip-off. It's sad to see opportunists trying to profit off Lang's series. The publisher has no respect whatsoever for readers. Boycott this book.

As others have noted, the full content is great, the lack of illustrations or index is a major error. Our daughters who loved the fairy books worked (a lot) to come up with an index for the book. Since it may be very helpful to others we include it here, so it might make up some of the pain of receiving the book and not finding the story you want.

The Blue Fairy Book

- The Bronze Ring 4
- Prince Hyacinth and the Dear
Little Princess 7
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon 9
- The Yellow Dwarf 10
- Little Red Riding Hood 16
- The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood 16
- Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper 18
- Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 20
- The Tale of the Youth Who Set
Out to Learn What Fear Was 23
- Rumpelstiltzkin 25
- Beauty and the Beast 25
- The Master Maid 30
- Why the Sea is Salt 33
- The Master Cat; or Puss In Boots 34
- Felicia and the Pot of Pinks 35
- The White Cat 38
- The Water Lily and the Gold-Spinners 41
- The Terrible Head 43
- The Story of Pretty Goldilocks 45
- The History of Whittington 48
- The Wonderful Sheep 50
- Little Thumb 54
- The Forty Thieves 56
- Snow White and Red Rose 59
- Hansel and Gretel 58
- The Goose Girl 61
- Toads and Diamonds 62
- Prince Darling 63
- Blue Beard 65
- Trusty John 67
- The Brave Little Tailor 68
- A Voyage to Lilliput 70
- The Princess on the Glass Hill 74
- The Story of Prince Ahmed and the
Fairy Paribanou 76
- The History of Jack the Giant-Killer 82
- The Black Bull of Norroway 84
- The Red Etin 85


The Red Fairy Book

- The Twelve Dancing Princesses 87
- The Princess Mayblossom 90
- Soria Moria Castle 94
- The Death of Koshchei the Deathless 96
- The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen 99
- The Master Thief 102
- Brother and Sister 106
- Princess Rosette 108
- The Enchanted Pig 112
- The Norka 115
- The Wonderful Birch 116
- Jack and the Beanstalk 119
- The Little Good Mouse 121
- Graciosa and Percinet 125
- The Three Princesses of Whiteland 129
- The Voice of Death 130
- The Six Sillies 131
- Kari Woodengown 132
- Drakestail 135
- The Ratcatcher 136
- The True History of Little Golden Hood 138
- The Golden Branch 139
- The Three Dwarfs 143
- Dapplegrim 145
- The Enchanted Canary 147
- Rapunzel 152
- The Nettle Spinner 153
- Farmer Weatherbeard 155
- Mother Holle 157
- Minnikin 159
- Bushy Bride 162
- Snowdrop 164
- The Golden Goose 166
- The Seven Foals 167
- The Marvellous Musician 169
- The Story of Sigurd 170


The Green Fairy Book

- The Blue Bird 173
- The Half-Chick 179
- The Story of Caliph Stork 180
- The Enchanted Watch 182
- Rosanella 184
- Sylvain and Jocasa 185
- Fairy Gifts 186
- Prince Narcissus and the
Princess Potentilla 187
- Prince Featherhead and the
Princess Celandine 190
- The Three Little Pigs 193
- Heart of Ice 195
- The Enchanted Ring 200
- The Snuff-box 202
- The Golden Blackbird 203
- The Little Soldier 205
- The Magic Swan 209
- The Dirty Sheperdess 210
- The Enchanted Snake 211
- The Bitter Bit 213
- King Kojata 214
- Prince Fickle and Fair Helena 217
- Puddocky 218
- The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs 220
- The Story of the Three Bears 221
- Prince Vivien and The Princess Placida 222
- Little One eye, Little Two Eyes, and Little
Three Eyes 227
- Jorinde and Joringel 228
- Allerleirauh; or the Many-Furred Creature 229
- The Twelve Huntsmen 230
- Spindle, Shuttle and Needle 231
- Crystal Coffin 232
- The Three Snake Leaves 233
- The Riddle 234
- Jack My Hedgehog 234
- The Golden Lads 236
- The White Snake 237
- The Story of a Clever Tailor 238
- The Golden Mermaid 239
- The War of the Wolf and the Fox 241
- The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife 242
- The Three Musicians 244
- The Three Dogs 245


The Yellow Fairy Book

- The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership 247
- The Six Swans 248
- The Dragon of the North 249
- Story of the Emperor's New Clothes 252
- The Golden Crab 253
- The Iron Stove 254
- The Dragon and His Grandmother 255
- The Donkey Cabbage 256
- The Little Green Frog 258
- The Seven-Headed Serpent 260
- The Grateful Beasts 261
- The Giants and the Herd-Boy 263
- The Invisible Prince 264
- The Crow 266
- How Six men Travelled Through the
Wide World 267
- The Wizard King 268
- The Nixy 270
- The Glass Mountain 271
- Alphege, or the Green Monkey 272
- Fairer-Than-A-Fairy 273
- The Three Brothers 275
- The Boy and the Wolves, or
The Broken Promise 276
- The Glass Axe 276
- The Dead wife 278
- In the Land of Souls 278
- The White Duck 279
- The Witch and Her Servants 280
- The Magic Ring 284
- The Flying Ship 288
- The Snow-Daughter and the Fire-Son 290
- The Story of King Frost 291
- The Death of the Sun-Hero 292
- The Witch 292
- The Hazel-Nut Child 294
- The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus 294
- Prince Ring 297
- The Swineherd 300
- How to Tell a True Princess 301
- The Blue Mountain 301
- The Tinder-Box 303
- The Witch in the Stone Boat 305
- Thumbelina 306
-The Nightingale 309
- Hermod and Hadvor 311
- The Steadfast Tin Soldier 312
- Blockhead-Hans 313
- A Story About a Darning-Needle 314


The Pink Fairy Book

- The Cat's Elopement 316
- How the Dragon Was Tricked 316
- The Goblin and the Grocer 317
- The House In the Woods 318
- Urashimataro and the Turtle 320
- The Slaying of Tanuki 320
- The Flying Trunk 321
- The Snow-Man 323
- The Shirt-Collar 324
- The Princess in the Chest 325
- The Three Brothers 327
- The Snow-Queen 328
- The Fir-Tree 332
- Hans the Mermaid's Son 334
- Peter Bull 337
- The Bird `Grip' 338
- Snowflake 340
- I Know What I have Learned 341
- The Cunning Shoemaker 342
- The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife 344
- How the Hermit Helped to Win the
King's Daughter 346
- The Water of Life 348
- The Wounded Lion 349
- The Man Without a Heart 351
- The Two Brothers 352
- Master and Pupil 354
- The Golden Lion 355
- The Sprig of Rosemary 356
- The White Dove 357
- The Trolls Daughter 359
- Esben and the Witch 361
- Princess Minon-Minette 364
- Maiden Bright-Eye 366
- The Merry Wives 368
- King Lindorm 369
- The Jackal, the Dove and the Panther 371
- The Little Hare 372
- The Sparrow With the Slit Tongue 375
- The Story of Ciccu 376
- Don Giovanni De La Fortuna 379



The Grey Fairy Book

- Donkey Skin 381
- The Goblin Pony 383
- An Impossible Enchantment 383
- The Story of Dschemil and Dschemila 386
- Janni and the Draken 391
- The Partnership of the Thief and the Liar 392
- Fortunatus and His Purse 393
- The Goat-Faced Girl 395
- What Came of Picking Flowers 396
- The Story of Bensurdatu 397
- The Magician's Horse 399
- The Little Grey Man 401
- Herr Lazarus and the Draken 402
- The Story of the Queen of the
Flowery Isles 403
- Udea and Her Seven Brothers 404
- The White Wolf 407
- Mohammed with the Magic Finger 409
- Bobino 413
- The Dog and the Sparrow 414
- The Story of the Three Sons of Hali 415
- The Story of the Fair Circassians 421
- The Jackal and the Spring 424
- The Bear 425
- The Sunchild 426
- The Daughter of Buk Ettemsuch 427
- Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye, or the
Limping Fox 429
- The Unlooked-For Prince 430
- The Simpleton 432
- The Street Musicians 434
- The Twin Brothers 435
- Cannetella 436
- The Ogre 438
- A Fairy's Blunder 439
- Long, Broad and Quickeye 442
- Prunella 444


The Violet Fairy Book

- A Tale of the Tontlawald 447
- The Finest Liar in the World 449
- The Story of Three wonderful Beggars 450
- Schippeitaro 452
- The Three Princes and their Beasts 453
- The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan 455
- Nine Pea-Hens and the Golden Apples 455
- The Lute Player 458
- The Grateful Prince 459
- The child who came from an egg 463
- Stan bolovan 464
- The Two Frogs 467
- The Story of a Gazelle 468
- How a Fish Swam in the Air and a
Hare in the Water 472
- Two in a Sack 473
- The Envious Neighbour 474
- The Fairy of the Dawn 475
- The Enchanted Knife 482
- Jesper who Herded the Hares 482
- The Underground Workers 484
- The History of dwarf Long Nose 486
- The Nunda, Eater of People 491
- The Story of Hassebu 493
- The maiden with the Wooden Helmet 495
- The Monkey and the Jellyfish 495
- The Headless Dwarfs 496
- The Young Man who Would Have His
Eyes Opened 498
- The Boys with the Golden Stars 499
- The Frog 501
- Princess who was Hidden Underground 502
- The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy 502
- The Story of Halfman 507
- The Prince who Wanted to See the World 510
- Virgilius the Sorceror 511
- Mogarzea and His Son 513


The Crimson Fairy Book

- Lovely Ilonka 515
- Lucky luck 516
- The Hairy Man 518
- The Story of the Seven Simons 520
- The language of Beasts 523
- The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret 524
- The Prince and the Dragon 527
- Little Wildrose 528
- Tiidu the Piper 530
- Paperarello 533
- The Gifts of the Magician 535
- The Strong Prince 536
- The Treasure Seeker 537
- The Cottager and His Cat 541
- The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality 541
- The Stone-Cutter 544
- The Gold-Bearded Man 544
- Tritill, Litil, and the Birds 547
- The Three Robes 548
- The Six Hungry Beasts 550
- How the Beggar Boy Turned Into Count Piro 552
- The Rogue and the Herdsman 554
- Eisenkopf 556
- The Death of Abu Nowas and of His Wife558
- Motikatika 559
- Niels and the Giants 560
- Shepherd Paul 562
- How the Wicked Tanuki Was Punished 564
- The Crab and the Monkey 564
- The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword
Gunnfoder 565
- The Story of the Sham Prince or the
Ambitious Tailor 567
- The Colony of Cats 570
- How to Find out a True Friend 572
- Clever Maria 574
- The Magic Kettle 574


The Brown Fairy Book

- What the Rose Did to the Cyprus 576
- Ball-Carrier and the Bad One 583
- How Ball-Carrier Finished His Task 585
- The Bunyip 586
- Father Grumbler 587
- The Story of the Yara 589
- The Cunning Hare 591
- The Turtle and His Bride 592
- How Geirald the Coward Was Punished 593
- Habogi 595
- How the Little Brother Set Free His
Big Brothers 596
- The Sacred Milk of Koumongoe 597
- The Wicked Wolverine 599
- The Husband of the Rat's Daughter 601
- The Mermaid and the Boy 601
- Pivi and Kabo 604
- The Elf Maiden 605
- How Some Wild Animals Became
Tame Ones 607
- Fortune and the Wood-Cutter 608
- The Enchanted Head 608
- The Sister of the Sun 610
- The Prince and the Three Fates 614
- The Fox and the Lapp 616
- Kisa the Cat 618
- The Lion and the Cat 619
- Which Was the Foolishest? 621
- Asmund and Signy 622
- Rubezahl 623
- Story of the King who Would be
Stronger Than Fate 626
- Story of Wali Dad the Simple-Hearted 629
- Tale of a Tortoise and a Mischievous
Monkey 631
- The Knights of the Fish 634


The Orange Fairy Book

-The Story of the Hero Makoma 637
- The Magic Mirror 639
- Story- the King Who Would See Paradise640
- How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu 641
- Ian, the Soldier's Son 642
- The Fox and the wolf 646
- How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon 647
- The Ugly Duckling 649
- The Two Caskets 652
- The Goldsmith's Fortune 654
- The Enchanted Wreath 655
- The Foolish Weaver 657
- The Clever Cat 658
- The Story of Manus 661
- Pinkel the Thief 662
- The Adventures of a Jackal 664
- The Adventrs of the Jackal's Eldest Son 666
- The Advtrs of the Younger
Son of the Jackal 667
- The Three Treasures of the Giants 668
- The Rover of the Plain 670
- The White Doe 672
- The Girl-Fish 677
- The Owl and the Eagle 679
- The Frog and the Lion Fairy 680
- The Adventrs of Covan the Brwn-Haired 684
- The Princess Bella-Flor 687
- The Bird of Truth 689
- The Mink and the Wolf 692
- Adventures of an Indian Brave 693
- How the Stalos Were Tricked 694
- Andras Baive 695
- The White Slipper 696
- The Magic Book 699


The Olive Fairy Book

- Madschun 702
- The Blue Parrot 704
- Geirlaug, the King's Daughter 706
- The Story of Little King Loc 709
- A Long-Bow Story 712
- Jackal or Tiger 713
- The Comb and the Collar 716
-The Thanksgiving of the Wazir 718
- Samba the Coward 719
- Kupti and Imani 721
- The Strange Adventures of Little Maya 723
- Diamond Cut Diamond 726
- The Green Knight 727
- The Five Wise Words of the Guru 730
- The Golden-Headed Fish 732
- Dorani 734
- The Satin Surgeon 735
- The Billy Goat and the King 737
- The Story of Zoulvisia 738
- Grasp All Lose All 741
- The Fate of the Turtle 743
- The Snake Prince 744
- The Prince and Princess in the Forest 745
- The Clever Weaver 749
- The Boy Who Found Fear At Last 750
- He Wins Who Waits 752
- The Steel Cane 754
- The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana 754
- The Silent Princess 757


The Lilac Fairy Book

-The Shifty Lad 761
- The False Prince and the True 764
- The Jogi's Punishment 766
- The Heart of a Monkey 767
- The Fairy Nurse 769
- A Lost Paradise 770
- How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves 771
- The King of the Waterfalls 773
- A French Puck 775
- The Three Crowns 776
- The Story of a Very Bad Boy 778
- The Brown Bear of Norway 779
- Little Lasse 781
- `Moti' 783
- The Enchanted Deer 785
- A Fish Story 787
- The Wonderful Tune 787
- The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother 789
- The One-Handed Girl 791
- The Bones Of Djulung 795
- The Sea King's Gift 796
- The Raspberry Worm 798
- The Stones of Plouhinec 800
- The Castle of Kerglas 802
- The Battle of the Birds 805
- The Lady of the Fountain 808
- The Four Gifts 811
- The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok 813
- The Escape of the Mouse 816
- The Believing Husbands 818
- The Hoodie-Crow 819
- The Brownie of the Lake 820
- The Winning of Olwen 822

All 12 Fairy Books in 1 volume??? Yippee! Until it arrives and you discover someone's literally dumped the 12 books into an awkwardly flimsy paperback paperweight. This volume is definitely not for pleasure-reading. It is so big it belongs in a hardback. But since it's a paperback, the weight of it causes it to bend and dip and fold as you're holding it. It's like trying to read stories out of one of those old JC Penney's catalogs.
I could accommodate for this if only the books inside were beautiful and easy to read. Well, they're not. It's like someone took all the words from the 12 books, loaded them in a dump truck and just poured them in here. There is literally NO separation between the stories. They just run from one to the next with barely a title thrown in. One story will end midway across a page, and the next will start right there with only a small title to separate the two. Also, the stories have been inserted in a 2-column format which makes it oddly similar to reading either a Bible or a science text-book, my wife opts for the latter.
Finally, and my biggest complaint, NO illustrations. Nope, none at all. Unless you count that frog on the cover. Oh, and there's a wolf on the back. Wow, talk about crushing childhood memories. I used to love reading these books. As a kid I would pick them off my Grandma's shelves and they were so fascinating, I literally perfected my reading skills by my desire to find out what happens next. That won't happen in this volume. No kid's going to pick this bulky volume up and have any desire to read these stories. There's just no magic in here.

I am searching for fairy tales to read again. This book is a good price BUT the format of this book is torture. When a story ends, the next one starts, without a page break. There is barely a page break between books. There are absolutely no illustrations and the tree frog on the cover is a strange choice at best. As much as I love books, this WILL NOT be any sort of favorite. When we opened the box at the post office in the lobby, my son, who requested the book, wondered who we could give it that would want it. How disappointing!