The Blue Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

Other authorsH. J. Ford (Illustrator), G. P. Jacomb Hood (Illustrator)
Paperback, 1965

Status

Available

Call number

398.21

Collection

Publication

Dover Publications (1965), Edition: Unabridged, Paperback, 390 pages

Description

Fantasy. Juvenile Fiction. Folklore. HTML: The Fairy Books, or "Coloured" Fairy Books is a collection of fairy tales divided into twelve books, each associated with a different colour. Collected together by Andrew Land they are sourced from a number of different countries and were translated by Lang's wife and other translators who also retold many of the tales. The collection has been incalculably important and, although he did not source the stories himself direct from the oral tradition he can make claim to the first English translation of many. First published in 1889, The Blue Fairy Bookis the 1st volume in this series..

User reviews

LibraryThing member leslie.98
3 stars for the audiobook; 4 stars for the book itself.

A good mix of familiar and unfamiliar in this collection of fairy tales. I also liked the fact that fairy tales from different cultures were included (French, Norwegian, Arabic for example).

I was a bit surprised to discover one tale (The
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Terrible Head) which was basically the Greek myth of Perseus! And a few others were just versions of another fairy tale already in the collection (for example, Little Thumb & Hansel and Gretel).

While I thought that Angele Masters did some very good voices (and a very good Scots accent for the last two tales), there were recurring mouth sounds (mostly sounds of swallowing) that put me off. Glad that I picked up this audiobook as a free Whispersync deal, but that brings me to another problem I had with this audiobook. It didn't actually sync with the Kindle book properly -- it worked okay for a while but towards the end, I couldn't get it to play while reading the text.
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LibraryThing member tripleblessings
Classic fairy tales from the Grimm brothers, Charles Perrault, Madame d'Aulnoy, the Arabian Nights, and other international sources. This volume has some of the best known European tales, 37 in all, with 138 beautiful illustrations by Ford and Hood. Lang's collections were first published circa
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1891.
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LibraryThing member amyrn75
This is my first and favorite book from the Folio Society! Everything about this book is great.
LibraryThing member nieva21
Thus far, in the Blue Fairy Book first volume it gets off to a s very rocky start, in comparison to Lang's other volumes in the series. This volume lacks a cohesiveness, where there are some familiar fairytales and far less noted ones, in such an archaic record of the oral tradition. The Blue Fairy
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book is rather ecclectic in it's display and the way it orates these tales. I find it interesting that many of the true well-known tales aren't actually known in their entirety, as they are revealed in this version. There are some very interesting parallels between stories in this collection and in the Red and Violet collections-- for instance East of the Sun and West of the Moon parallels Soria Moria Castle Published in the Red story. Prince Hyacinth parallels Dwarf Long nosed in the Violet. The parallels have to do with how the stories were constructed, motifs, similar themes, structural shifts, motive, characterization, but not about the plethora of how children's fairytales of this era all seemingly have a typical formula that works well revolving around food, the number three, good vs. evil, change vs. losing oneself, listening to ones elders vs. spurning the advice of elders (cynility), entering other dimensions, animals who speak, luck (abundance--rags to riches story), the classic quest story, princesses or princes who are bored and have to marry but want to change their arranged marriage choice, nature/natural world interference, fear vs. bravery (and a ton of other numerous innate human conflicts dealing with consciousness and the human condition).
Basically, we still question these today which is why they are still relevant and rich for discussion. It's why they consume toteism, and comprise our history. Many of us try to hide the truth of how we view literature because it often times reflects with how we view ourselves or know ourselves far better than we think we do. It reveals a deeper and richer discovery of the vulnerability of childhood imaginations, which evolve throughout our lifetimes.
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LibraryThing member Fledgist
Classic collection of fairy tales by nineteenth century writer.
LibraryThing member erburr117
Definately a must have book, along with the other color fairy books by Andrew Lang, for the booksheld=f, Andrew Lang does a great job of combining different tales from different regions and cultures of the world and bringing it to the children, all well translated and with gorgeous prints. This
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particular volume contains some of my favorite stories; East of the Sun and West of the Moon, sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Rose White and Rose Red, Aladdin, Rumpelstiltskin, among many others. A lot of these have been made into movies or made into their own books, and it would be fun for the child to see the original written down version of the story they have loved in the movie, and also would save a lot of shelf space instead of buying all the different stories.
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LibraryThing member momma2
A nice collection of fairy tales. We did not read it straight through but read selected stories. The kids kind of got a kick out of the grim nature of some of the tales. Fairy tales in their original form.
LibraryThing member JenJ.
I thought I would read this more quickly than I did and like it more. Perhaps it's because I chose to read it for class that it ended up feeling like a chore. I love the stories and was pleased to read some new ones I didn't recognize, but it felt like it took me forever to wade through the almost
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400 pagss.
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LibraryThing member ecmsms12
A tale of old about a boy, a giant,and a beanstalk. The tale is an example of how having courage and wisdom can get you through any ordeal.
LibraryThing member abergsman
This is currently my nightly reading with Maya. It's a fantastic, non-Disneyish book of the fairy tale classics including stories from Grimm, Charles Perrault, Arabian Nights, and more! If you are looking for a non-watered down version of classic book of fairy tales...this is a great starting place.
LibraryThing member KayIS813
A lot of new and familiar fairy tales. Some had an interesting twist but a lot of them did get monotonous after a while

Language

Original language

Multiple languages

Original publication date

1889

Physical description

390 p.; 8.46 inches

ISBN

0486214370 / 9780486214375
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