This is the companion book to English Fairy Tales, also compiled by Joseph Jacobs. Years ago, I obtained the first book but was unable to get the second volume. I was very pleased to win a copy through the LT Early Reviewers.

As the title states, this is a collection of fairy tales, originally collected during the Victorian era. As such, many of them are quite different from what we today think of as a fairy tale. While some of the tales have a moral (as all good fairy tales do), many appear (to our modern senses) to be unfinished or only partly related, a couple even seem to stop in mid story. Some of the tales relate to things that many folks in our modern world may not have knowledge of.

Having said that, if the reader is a collector or student of fairy or folk tales, this is a worthy book to add to one's collection. I have a fair number of collections, and many of these fairy tales do not appear in my other books. At the end of the book is a section of about 20 pages of notes and references which gives the sources of most of the fairy tales. In some ways, this is one of the best features of the book, specially if one wishes to cross reference the tales with other versions and sources.

As a collector of fairy tales and folklore collections, I was eager to find yet another publisher of long out-of-print Victorian-era publications. Pook Publishers, the publisher of this book, was an exciting new find, as they seem to specialize in just that area. However, i was a tad disappointed. Their books aren't bad, but they aren't amazing either. Compared to Dover, another publisher in this area, they fall flat. Pook does many of the same titles, but their prices are much, much higher and the books are not high-quality. They also do this infuriating little thing where they publish the same title in multiple versions, one priced much higher, and no apparent reason for it. It turns out that the higher-priced books have color illustrations, while the others have merely black and white. But that is not at all clear when ordering. Their books are also published some in paperback, some hardcover. If they did that for each title, I'd have no problem. But some are only paperback and others only hardcover and I find that annoying also, as when I collect a series, I like it to be consistent. And then, since their books are rather hard-to-find, I am just never sure if I am missing a hardcover or they never produced it? I would always choose hardcover, with color illustrations. But their hardcovers with color illustrations are just way too pricey - some as high as $60. If they were high-quality books, I'd spring for it. But they seem about the same as Dover and Dover is far cheaper and has far more titles. I think I will stick to them.

This is a nice addition to my collection of books on fairy tales. The illustrations are simple but charming, and while I wouldn't rank this book as my favorite, it is definitely packed full with stories appropriate for people of all ages. ( )

The thought of offering up older, obscure titles in new, affordable form is a delightful one. While the format of the book (trade paperback with less-than-perfect print quality) is not as conducive to a positive reading experience as would be a richly made hardcover, the point here is accessibility and I think Pook Press has moderately succeeded.

The tales themselves are a mix of the familiar ("The Pied Piper") and the forgotten ("The Stars in the Sky"). As was typical of Victorian folk tale collections, Jacobs claims as English many tales that have a considerably more international heritage ("The Black Bull of Norroway" is one example, but also represented here are tales like "Tattercoats" and others whose twins appear in Grimm, etc.). It's pleasant to revisit old friends here and equally enjoyable to find new acquaintances. Jacobs' attempt at local dialects -- again typical of his era -- can be occasionally annoying to the modern reader, but always make for fun reading aloud.

While this isn't the first fairy tale book I would hand a child, I do think it's worthy of any good collection. ( )

Al sinds ik nog maar een klein meisje was, ben ik altijd in de ban geweest van sprookjes. Op de ene of de andere manier houden ze ons een oeroude spiegel voor waarin we als we aandachtig genoeg zijn ons eigen potentieel kunnen zien. Dat is niet anders met deze verzameling van Engelse sprookjes, die in de 19de eeuw door Jospeh Jacobs werden opgetekend. Jacobs is zo'n beetje de Engelse versie van de gebroeders Grimm en zijn sprookjes geven een fascinerende inkijk in de wereld van toen. We spreken over een tijd waarin technologie nog niet vanzelfsprekend was voor iedereen en landbouw nog een wezenlijk deel uitmaakte van de maatschappij. Het leven van de gewone mens op het veld was nog niet doordrongen van wetenschap en alles wat niet meteen te verklaren was, werd toegeschreven aan invloeden van buitenaf, uit een andere wereld die overlapte met de onze, de wereld van elfen en trollen, magische voorwerpen en goedmenende geesten. Die oeroude sprookjeswereld vinden we terug in de sprookjes van Jacobs, die soms verdacht veel lijken op de sprookjes die we kennen van de gebroeders Grimm en dus waarschijnlijk een gemeenschappelijke oerversie moeten hebben.

Deze collectie sprookjes werd rijkelijk geïllustreerd door John Batten. Net zoals de tekeningen van Anton Pieck in de lage landen bepalend waren voor de sfeer van de sprookjes van Grimm, versterken de prachtige tekeningen van Batten de soms bevreemdende sprookjessfeer en geven ze een extra dimensie. Een aanrader voor iedereen die, net als ik, zijn hart voelt trekken naar een ver verleden elke keer als hij een sprookjesboek openslaat. ( )