The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures [Hardcover]

Pierre DuBois (Author), Claudine Sabatier (Illustrator), Roland Sabatier (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2005

This giant, gorgeously illustrated encyclopedia documents the lives of elves, goblins, hobgoblins, gnomes, imps, pixies, and sprites with whimsy and wonder. The most extensive volume on the various types of little creatures and fairyfolk, "The Great Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins and Other Little Creatures" illustrates each unique species with charming, luminous, detailed drawings, and includes the folklore and fairy tales collected through extensive research. As a result of twenty years of patient research, the author, Pierre Dubois, has created portraits of hundreds of species. For each one, he wrote a tale starting from authentic anecdotes, spiced with spirited humor. The illustrations of Roland Sabatler portray each strange and wonderful creature and the marvels and mysteries of the habitats they live in.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pierre Dubois was born in 1945 in the Ardennes region of France. He expresses his love of the fantastic through television; he is a host on France 3 Bretagne and a scenario writer of teleplays. Claudine and Roland Sabatier are very well-known illustrators for children's books in France; they live near Paris and collaborate on textbooks and children's fiction.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (November 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789208784
• ISBN-13: 978-0789208781
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #715,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Science Fiction & Fantasy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Old, Forgotten, Far Off Things, January 5, 2006

By 

J. E. Barnes - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures (Hardcover)

Pierre Dubois' The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins and Other Little Creatures (2005) offers an extensive but eccentric, often frustrating, overview of its subject. This is especially true since Dubois has divided the large 375-page volume into two major sections, 'Elves' and 'Goblins,' without any clear indication as to why. The problem is further acerbated by the fact that Dubois applies the term 'fairy' to both of his major types, and bandies about the word 'demon' with equal irresponsibility. Since a number of the creatures involved are quite large physically, as Dubois repeatedly underscores, the book's title is also in error.

Accordingly, readers will find 'Pixies' and 'Brownies' listed under 'Goblins,' an accounting many scholars may dispute. Entities with ostensibly dwarfish body types seem to automatically fall into the 'Goblin' category, but this is not uniformly true throughout. Inexplicably, 'Trolls,' 'The Wendigo,' 'The Dybbuk,' and 'The Djinn' are designated as 'Elves,' while 'The Phooka,' 'Pan,' and 'Giants' are designated as 'Goblins.'

Dubois' vague, somnolent prose makes it impossible to tell whether he has derived his taxonomy from traditional sources, such as folkloric texts and memorites, adapted it from legitimate scholarship, or simply based it on idiosyncratic fancies of his own. Though Dubois has included an extensive eight-page bibliography, the individual entries are not footnoted, making it difficult to ascertain the exact source of his information in most cases. The overall effect suggests that The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins and Other Little Creatures is at best a lukewarm entertainment, otherwise unreliable and academically unsound.

Despite the presence of attractive jacket and end paper art, the encyclopedia is decorated with a cartoonish series of illustrations by Claudine and Roland Sabatier that will most likely fall short of reader expectations. The illustrators seem more concerned with the book's overall design than in attempting to depict the actual beings specified. Landscapes, especially elf-and-goblin-free landscapes, predominate.

Though both the text and the illustrations are clearly geared towards children as well as adults, both contain explicit sexual content. Bare breasts, engorged nipples, and erect male genitalia dot the pages in a manner that often clashes oddly with the smiling impish faces and frolicking nature sprites.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A history of the human imagination, April 6, 2011

By 

Guy Young (Dayton OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures (Hardcover)

I gotta say I have really enjoyed reading this book since purchasing it last week.The book is divided into several sections covering different incarnations of "The Gentle Folk" and classifying which branch live in the woods,under the earth,in your home,etc. One particular point of interest to me was a little letter written by the author within the book that really seems to evoke the spirit of the elves as you read it. Inviting them to return from the deep recesses of the imagination.
The artwork has a certain appeal to it. I think for most people they'll either love it or hate it. I enjoy the fresh approach given,which tends to come off a little cartoony at times but always stay edgy enough from coming off retro.

The bibliography is lengthy and will supply me with a plethera of further reading,though some are quiet old and may be a bit of a challenge to find.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Peter DuBois Fan, June 25, 2006

By 

Amazon Junkie (Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures (Hardcover)

Excellent book...great read with tons of info. Out of all the different authors of books on faeries and/or other little creatures, Peter DuBois seems to catch my eye and attention the most. Only 4 stars, because I still feel that there is some element missing, but I haven't found it in any other book, either...