Victorian Fairy Tales

'The Queen and the bat had been talking a good deal that afternoon...'The Victorian fascination with fairyland vivified the literature of the period, and led to some of the most imaginative fairy tales ever written. They offer the shortest path to the age's dreams, desires, and wishes. Authors central to the nineteenth-century canon such as W. M. Thackeray, Oscar Wilde, Ford Madox Ford, and Rudyard Kipling wrote fairy tales,and authors primarily famous for their work in the genre include George MacDonald, Juliana Ewing, Mary De Morgan, and Andrew Lang. This anthology brings together fourteen of the best stories, by these and otheroutstanding practitioners, to show the vibrancy and variety of the form and its abilities to reflect our deepest concerns.In tales of whimsy and romance, witty satire and uncanny mystery, love, suffering, family, and the travails of identity are imaginatively explored. Michael Newton's Introduction and notes provide illuminating contextual and biographical information about the authors and the development of the literary fairy tale. A selection of original illustrations isalso included.

“What Michael Newton has done here is no easy feat: creating a collection of fairy tales that is both entertaining and educational... Newton's Victorian Fairy Tales is a beguiling and dynamic anthology.”

"Whimsical or romantic, sharply satirical or fogged with mystery, these powerful tales by the likes of Thackeray, Wilde, and doyenne of the genre, Mary De Morgan, probe the deepest human concerns, while reflecting the more of the period." - The Lady"this collection does show why the fairy tale can be so irresistible, for both nostalgic and romantic reasons." - Eve Wersocki Morris, Times Literary Supplement"With reproductions of some of the original black and white illustrations by (among others) Arthur Hughes and Walter Crane, a silken bookmark and a truly glorious cover, Victorian Fairy Tales is a perfect gift volume for both adults and older children. Rather like the stories themselves, the book works beautifully on two levels, both as a collection of fairy tales to be read and enjoyed for their own sake and with its appendix and copious explanatory notes as a detailed and fascinating window into the Victorian mind." - Vulpes Libris, Moira Briggs"What a delightful place is fairyland and there is no more delightful guide to explore it with than Michael Newton. Truly a book to treasure." - Northern Echo, Steve Craggs"" - The Writer's Drawer, Stephen Reeves

Michael Newton has taught at University College London, Princeton University, and Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, and now works at Leiden University. He is the author of Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children (Faber, 20002), Age of Assassins: A History of Conspiracy and Political Violence, 1865-1981 (Faber, 2012), and a book on Kind Hearts and Coronets for the BFI Film Classics series. He has edited Edmund Gosse's Father and Son for Oxford World's Classics, and The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories and Conrad's The Secret Agent for Penguin. He has written and reviewed for the Times Literary Supplement, London Review of Books, the New Statesman, and The Guardian.

'The Queen and the bat had been talking a good deal that afternoon...'The Victorian fascination with fairyland vivified the literature of the period, and led to some of the most imaginative fairy tales ever written. They offer the shortest path to the age's dreams, desires, and wishes. Authors central to the nineteenth-century canon such as W. M. Thackeray, Oscar Wilde, Ford Madox Ford, and Rudyard Kipling wrote fairy tales,and authors primarily famous for their work in the genre include George MacDonald, Juliana Ewing, Mary De Morgan, and Andrew Lang. This anthology brings together fourteen of the best stories, by these and otheroutstanding practitioners, to show the vibrancy and variety of the form and its abilities to reflect our deepest concerns.In tales of whimsy and romance, witty satire and uncanny mystery, love, suffering, family, and the travails of identity are imaginatively explored. Michael Newton's Introduction and notes provide illuminating contextual and biographical information about the authors and the development of the literary fairy tale. A selection of original illustrations isalso included.

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