The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Fairies

[Floriana Grundy]

Avibrantly illustrated collection of books on unicorn lore, including The Magical Unicorn Society Official Handbook, A Brief History of Unicorns/The Golden Unicorn, and a Unicorn Society colouring book.

A gorgeous vintage book of fairy tales from around the world, with stunning illustrations by the Czech artist Voijtech Kubasta. There are several different editions of this collection, and it is so lovely it deserves a post all of its own.

Everything you need to know to make a good living as a unicorn farmer. From choosing the right breed to picking the unicorn farm management dream team. Actually, not a bad economics primer. Die-cut cover.

In the early 1990s, Brian Froud unearthed the Victorian diary of Lady Angelica Cottington and discovered that whereas other gentlewoman of her time pressed flowers between their diary pages, the young Lady Angelica pressed fairies. Or rather, the psychic impressions of fairies. There are several books in this delightful series, I love them all.

A celebration of fantasy characters from hundreds of years of myth and legend, tracing the origins of gnomes, goblins, elves, trolls, dragons, etc. The work of many illustrators is used, including Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Edmund Dulac, as well as more contemporary artists. Text is minimal, but illustrations lovely.

French elficologist Pierre Dubois describes the extraordinary richness of the faery kingdom, presenting dozens and dozens of lushly illustrated entries on the most powerful and enchanting denizens of this magical world. Dubois provides readers with authoritative information detailing the customs, habitat, and activities of these Little People. Accompanied by entrancing illustrations by the Sabatiers.

A long running series of miniature books on the theme of flowers and fairies, including Forest Fairies, Heath Fairies, House Fairies, Insect Fairies, Orchard Fairies, Seashore Fairies, Seed Fairies, Twilight Fairies, Water Fairies and Wild Fruit Fairies.

From the mountains of Northern Italy to the remote forests of Nigeria, diverse fairies from around the world come together in this little encyclopedia . . .

Naughty and nice, unpredictable and typically tiny, fairies remain one of the most enduring folk creatures, featuring in mythologies across cultures and throughout history. This little encyclopedia rounds up more than 90 fairies from around the world, including:

For even more inspiration from the world of fairies, add our Fairies suite, including the Fairies Oracle Deck and Guidebook: Wisdom, Inspiration, and Magic from Folktales Around the World, Fairies 2-in-1 Double-Sided 500-Piece Puzzle, and Mini Fairy Terrarium, to your collection!

The Yōsei are creatures of Japanese mythology who are said to attract ghosts. A yōsei is innocent, playful, and a little intelligent. They can learn to speak human languages and some are even said to have mastered sign language. Humans can only see them as birds, and they typically take the form of cranes and swans.

Time passed differently in the Land of the Young. In the three years Oisn spent there, three hundred years had passed in the mortal world. Everything and everyone he knew were long gone. He stopped to help a group of men who were struggling with a boulder, and as he leaned over, the strap holding him to the horse broke and Oisn tumbled to the ground. In an instant, time caught up with him and Oisn aged hundreds of years. Embarr ran off, frightened by the commotion, and in a short time Oisn died, never having the chance to see his beloved Niamh again.

A tikbalang is a demon from Philippine folklore that was said to have long, stretched human limbs and the head of a horse. Usually described as being covered in black fur, a white tikbalang is rare but thought to be especially magical. Tikbalangs can take on any shape and form, including that of a human. They reportedly live in the mountains, where they lead travelers astray for fun.

Stories of tikbalangs are often told to children as a warning to not venture too far from home at night. It is said that they wait in tall trees for a traveler to come by and then impersonate someone the traveler knows. One way to know if someone is actually a tikbalang in disguise is to notice if he or she smells like smoke. Tikbalangs are known to be big smokers, and the smell will linger even if they change form. One of the more brutal things they are known to do is capture women, keep them in bamboo cages, and eventually murder them. It was said that when it rains while the sun is shining, that means a tikbalang is getting married.

These entertaining yet authoritative encyclopedias are on sale now. Sign up for the RP Mystic newsletter and follow us on Instagram at @rpmystic to be the first to find out when the next two volumes of The Little Encyclopedias of Mythological Creatures become available.

This exhibition manages to cover how the depiction of fairies, elves, sprites and goblins has changed and evolved over the past 200 years through some fifty drawings and illustrations hung on the walls and 17 or so antique illustrated books open in display cases. Over twenty illustrators are represented, from Sir Joseph Noel Paton RSA (1821 to 1902) to the contemporary illustrator and designed Brian Froud (b.1947).

The exhibition closes with a set of eight of the original watercolours for the Flower Fairy books by Cicely Mary Barker. Barker was born in Croydon and although she later attended the Croydon School of Art, she was largely self-taught. In 1922 she sent some of her flower fairy illustrations to Blackie and Son the publishers who published them as Flower Fairies of the Spring. She received just 25 for the 24 pictures in the book, but it sold well and she was able to secure a royalty for all its sequels.

As someone who takes photos of English wild flowers, I was riveted by the accuracy of her botanical drawings. But she also used real children to model for each of the fairies. Hence the sense of super-reality.

This is a very modern, disenchanted, cynical but hilarious view of fairies and, indeed, of human nature, purporting to be the book in which the fictional Lady Cottington has heartlessly captured and pressed to death a wide variety of fairies. The fairies are slender naked females with long dragonfly wings, each caught in a posture of terror and horror as the pages of the collecting book bang shut on them.

Faeries is a book written and illustrated by English artists Brian Froud and Alan Lee. An illustrated compendium of faerie mythology, legends and folklore,[3] the book explores the history, customs and habitat of faeries in the manner of a field guide,[4] complete with hand annotations.

The book was first published in 1978 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in the United States and Souvenir Press in the United Kingdom. It reached number four on the New York Times Best Seller list.[5] Faeries has since been translated into at least nine other languages, and in 1981 was adapted into an animated television special of the same name. As of 2003, the book had sold more than five million copies.[6]

The book received a mixed critical reception from news sources and library trade publications. Reviewers praised the authors' illustrations and depth of research, while some criticized the book's writing style for not clearly specifying facts regarding the book's mythical subject matter.

Spelled in the archaic fashion, the title faeries refers not just to fairies, but encompasses a wide range of mythological creatures including goblins, dwarves, pixies, elves, leprechauns, ogres, boggarts, banshees, mermaids and selkies.[7][8]

The book's contents include information about faerie archaeology, history, characteristics and customs, a geography of Faerieland, and a catalogue of faerie types.[7] It also gives in-universe advice on where faeries are most likely to be found, how to ward off faerie spells, when it is especially dangerous to come across faeries, and the ecology of faery-plant interactions.[9] Although the book's historical information covers folklore from around the world, most of the facts, poetry and literature of faeries come from France, England, Scotland and Ireland.[10] Included amongst Lee and Froud's text are Celtic legends and ballads about faeries, as well as excerpts from poems about faeries by poets such as William Butler Yeats and Christina Rossetti.[7]

The idea for the book came from New York publisher Ian Ballantine. Inspired by the success of the 1977 Dutch-authored book Gnomes, Ballentine recruited the two British illustrators Brian Froud and Alan Lee to produce a similar tome about fairies[3] as a follow up to Gnomes (a third book, Giants, was published following Faeries).[13]

Sharing lodging in Chagford on the edge of Dartmoor,[14] Lee and Froud spent nine months researching, illustrating and writing the book.[3] They referred to the work of leading British folklorist Katharine Briggs as one of their main sources for information about faeries.[15] Other sources include 19th-century folklorists such as Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England (1865) and Lady Wilde's Ancient Legends of Ireland (1887), as well as stories from the Middle Ages such as those told by Gerald of Wales.[16] According to Froud, Ballantine had "expected a fun, jolly book with fluffy faeries, and what he got were all these green horrible creatures with nasty teeth that bit your ankles, and he was horrified. But our research was based on folklore and on what faeries were really like."[15]

Froud stated that while planning the book, he and Lee intended to make their artwork indistinguishable from the other's, and to "actually draw on top of each other's art." Due to time constraints, however, they were unable to do it in such a way. Instead, they each chose what they wanted to illustrate and divided the work between them, taking into account one another's artistic strengths and weaknesses. Froud said, "We also made sure there were a few images that were absolutely a crossover, so I was partly in his style and he was partly in my style."[17]

3a8082e126