The Crimson Fairy Book (Paperback)

~ Andrew Lang (Author) "There was once a king's son who told his father that he wished to marry..." (more)
Key Phrases: magic root, Abu Nowas, Count Piro, Master Peter (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

36 stories from Hungary, Russia, Finland, Iceland, Tunisia, the Baltic: "The Cottager and His Cat," "The Crab and the Monkey," "Little Wildrose," "The Gold-bearded Man," and more. 53 illustrations.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (June 1, 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048621799X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486217994
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #426,423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the first of its kind, April 6, 2000

By	Heidi Anne Heiner (SurLaLune Fairy Tales.com) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Andrew Lang was one of the first editors to collect multicultural fairy tales into one volume for readers. The Crimson Fairy Book offers tales from many lands. Included tales are How to find out a True Friend, The Language of Beasts, The Ambitious Tailor, Clever Maria, The Colony of Cats, How the Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro, and many others. The Blue Fairy Book is still the most popular with the best known tales, but look here for lesser known tales.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars impressive, January 11, 2004

By	Vampire Angel "vampire_angel" (USA) - See all my reviews

The Crimson Fairy book is just another superb fairy tale book edited by Andrew Lang. Unlike most of the Fairy books edited by Lang this one has color illustrations as well as black and white. This book contains 45 black and white, and 8 color illustrations. Along with the illustrations are the stories, ranging in length from a couple pages to almost twenty. There are 36 stories including: The Story of the Seven Simons, The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret, Tiidu the Piper,Paperarello, The Cottager and his Cat, Eisenkopf, The Three Robes, Shepherd Paul, The Magic Kettle, and more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Books, But If You're Not Sure if you'll like them..., April 28, 2008

By	Rachel Kendall "Addicted to the Written Word" (Toledo, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'd heard a lot about this series, but I wasn't sure if the language would be too antiquated for my kids, so I downloaded a few of them at google, fell madly in love, and bought some...I won't be happy till I've got the whole series in my collection, because each one of the "color fairy" books is more fabulous than the one before it!

Really, if you love traditional fairy tales and fables, you'll love these. By the way, did you know that "SNOW WHITE" had a name change? She was originally called "SnowDrop". Theres all sorts of lovely details like that in these books, and I love being able to tell my children some of the original charming details of stories that they know and love. We don't have much in the way of "oral traditions" in our society, but these are a step in the right direction. Originally, these were all collected from oral fables from all over the world, and like "brothers Grimm", Lang introduced America to some now beloved stories for the first time.

And the illustrations by H.J. Ford (his "Thumbelina" drawings are some of my alltime fave illustrations!) are GORGEOUS ink w ornate victorian styling. Really bring the stories to life with princesses and fairy coaches pulled by doves, funny ogres and bewitched royals hexed into all manner of beasts. Really worth it, and the whole series of "Color Fairy" books are a fantastic addition to library of kidlets and adults with a whimsical side...and a MUST for any artist!

Don't miss out on adding these to your library. If you've only ever seen modern versions of these tales, you're really missing out! Plus, there are many stories here that I'd never heard before...they're all but lost to history. Check out the pdf forms at google if you'd like to see some more illustrations, or even read some text. I actually got sucked into the stories and read the whole thing, but then I had to go buy them, because there's just no substitute to having a bound book that you can curl up with at storytime and share with your children again and again.