Author Description

Selections from the Violet Fairy Book contains the following stories: The Three Wonderful Beggars, Three Princes and Their Beasts, The Nine Pea Hens and the Golden Apples, Stan Bolovan, The Fairy of the Dawn, and The History of Dwarf Longnose. The book is illustrated with over 20 drawings from H.J. Ford. Andrew Lang (1844-1912), and his wife Leonora ("Nora") Blanche Alleyne, published 25 collections of stories for children between 1889 and 1910. The most famous of these collections were the 12 collections of fairy tales known commonly as Andrew Lang's "Coloured Fairy Books." The sources of the tales retold in these classics range from Lang's homeland of Scotland to the Middle Eastern origins of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Although Andrew is often credited with collecting all of the tales and adapting them for children, Andrew himself admitted that his wife, Nora, took over the series after the first four books. The series has done an immense service to generations of children, whose moral imaginations are all the richer thanks to their exposure to the Coloured Fairy Books and more. Henry Justice Ford (1860-1941) was an English painter and illustrator. Although the diversity of his interests and talents (from cricket to watercolors) was remarkable, "H.J." Ford was best known for his work as an illustrator of Lang's Coloured Fairy Book series between 1889 and 1910.