Customer Reviews

Arabian Nights Illustrated: Art of Dulac, Folkard, Parrish and Others (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a fun book this is. Collected here are some of the most famous illustrations, made by some of the most famous illustrators, of one of the most famous collection of fantastic stories. Scheherezade, Aladdin, Ali Baba and their cohorts come to life in a wonderful variety of styles spanning roughly a century and a half. Dulac, Folkard and Parrish get top billing--deservedly so. I loved the dramatic, ethereal qualities of Parrish when I read the Arabian Nights as a boy, and appreciate his brilliance as an adult. Dulac and Folkard also merge drama, imagination and power to create art worthy of the great stories they portray. These three continue to set the standard in illustration, not just for children's literature but for adults, too.

Another thing I loved about the book was seeing the artistic progression of great illustrators, as well as the development of Europe's collective imagination and ability to express the supernatural. Early illustrators depicted djinn much more literally, providing art that would almost fit into a slightly exotic Jane Austen novel. As art styles developed, morphed, clashed and grew, we get ever-more fascinating interpretations of the same stories. The Art Deco stylists, the impressionists and others provide art that is as vivid as it is wonderfully surreal. Again, Parrish's style is completely natural, but worlds removed from his predecessors' in terms of expressing magic.

On the technical front, I'm pleased that Dover has put together a book with high quality illustrations (the whole reason for buying the book, after all) with vivid, saturated colors and clear detail at an affordable price. One can only imagine how expensive these lavishly illustrated volumes were a century ago!

In many respects, I am a big fan of Dover Publishing. One of their business strategies is to republish great old books whose copyright protection has expired. They do not have to pay their authors/illustrators and we the reading public get access to some classic books at a reasonable price. Editor Jeff Menges used a variant of this strategy when he assembled "Arabian Nights-Illustrated". But instead of republishing the texts, Menges only selected the images for his compilation.

The Golden Age of Illustration is generally considered to have run from the 1880's until the years immediately following the Great War. Gifted illustrators like Edmund Dulac, Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth prepared sumptous images for children's books. Using as a resource the many volumes published of "The Arabian Nights", Menges has assembled beautiful images from the great illustrators of the day. Of special note, during this time period, "Orientalism" was one of the crazes that swept the art world. It is interesting to see how this fad for the "Oriental" was integrated into children's books.

What keeps me from giving this book five stars is the mediocre printing that is typical of Dover Publishing. A revolution in book printing has taken place in the last twenty years. Unfortunately, Dover is still stuck in the technology of the 1980's. The books' images have that washed out look that speaks eloquently of low production values. If Dover Publishing is going to produce art books, they should make a better printing effort. If you want to see how vibrant the images look in their original volumes, check out Minh Lai's beautiful web site, www.nocloo.com.

The illustrations are indeed beautiful. But I think the product description should be a bit clearer as to what the book actually is. I expected some stories as well that I could read to my granddaughter. I was not expecting a book of illustrations only.

This oversize paperback includes typical art done for various collections of the Arabian Nights by 11 artists of the period 1893-1920, which is generally acknowledged to have been the highpoint of American book illustration. Ranging from full-page, full-color plates to pen-and-ink spot pieces, they all share the kind of lavish look we once associated with "the lands of the East" (including a couple of turbans that look more like balloons than anything). Edmund Dulac conributes the largest number of illustrations, but H. J. Ford (known for his long association with Andrew Lang), Maxfield Parrish, Dalziel & Cooper, Charles Folkard, and others are here too. The one real flaw it has is that not all the pictures will be immediately associateable with a particular story (though some will, like the Rene Bull sketch on page 28 of merchants breaking a roc's egg, which of course comes from the voyages of Sinbad, or Louis Rhead's rendering on page 111 of Ali Baba's servant Morgiana dancing for the chief thief). If you like rich, beautiful illustrations of a kind they just don't seem to do anymore, this book and several others from Dover--like The Art & Illustration of Walter Crane, By a Woman's Hand: Illustrators of the Golden Age (Dover Books on Fine Art), The Arthur Rackham Treasury: 86 Full-Color Illustrations, Once Upon a Time . . . A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tale Illustrations, and Goble's Fairy Paintings: 24 Art Cards--should be on your shelf.

I am putting together a program of storytelling for elementary school and found there is not much in the way of stories from the Middle East. This book provides beautiful templates of past editions of books that are unique and will do wonderfully as projected images during stories. The price was great.