Faeries
First edition
EditorDavid Larkin
AuthorsBrian Froud, Alan Lee
IllustratorsBrian Froud, Alan Lee
Country
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre
Publisher
Publication date
November 1978
Media typePrint

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 separating fact from fiction regarding the book's mythical subject matter.

Overview

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]

In total, the book contains 185 illustrations, 147 in full colour.[11] It is published unpaginated.[8][12]

Development

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]

Style

Lee's illustration for the entry "Faerie Rades" was inspired by John Duncan's 1911 painting The Riders of the Sidhe (above), according to Dimitra Fimi.[18]

Faeries features watercolours and pencil drawings.[4] Comparing the two authors' illustrative styles, writer James Clarke remarked that Lee's images "skew slightly more towards a sense of realism" while Froud's style "is slightly more heightened and his fairy faces are immediately identifiable."[19] Writing for Library Journal, M. L. del Mastro described the illustrations as a mix of "Maxfield Parrish delicates with Disney/Hildebrandt grotesques."[20] The Washington Post identified the book's "stylistic debts" as being to Arthur Rackham, Richard Dadd, Willy Pogany, and the pre-Raphaelite painters John William Waterhouse, John Everett Millais and Edward Burne-Jones.[21] The Atlantic Monthly also likened the illustrative style to the painters Arnold Böcklin and Hieronymus Bosch.[22] Fantasy literature scholar Dimitra Fimi wrote that Lee's illustration for the entry "Faerie Rades", depicting the procession of the Irish fairies as "splendidly dressed men and women in medieval style, most of them riding decorated horses and one of them holding an unfolding banner," took a strong influence from John Duncan's 1911 painting The Riders of the Sidhe.[18]

Publication and reception

Faeries was first published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in November 1978.[23] The book reached number four on the New York Times Best Seller list.[5][24] By January 1979, it had sold out its first printing of 180,000 copies.[23]

Considered a fantasy classic,[25][26] Faeries had sold in excess of five million copies by 2003.[6] A 25th-anniversary edition of Faeries was published in 2002, containing eight new pages and 20 new pieces of art by Froud and Lee, as well as new introductions by the artists.[4] The anniversary edition sold more than 100,000 copies within six months of release.[6] The "Deluxe Collector's Edition" published in 2010 includes an additional eight new pieces of art by Froud and Lee as well as essays by the artists and a foreword by Jane Yolen.[26]

Critical response

The New York Times Book Review wrote that Faeries, as Gnomes did, "rescued the little people from their roles as stereotyped characters in children's books".[27] Describing the book as a "Baedeker of Faerieland", Stephen Hunter of The Baltimore Sun wrote, "What Froud and Lee have done is to explore the arcana of English, Celtic and Welsh folklore, but to reinterpret in wholly a revisionist way, without sentimentality, without cuteness: Gnomes with fangs. The style is soft and evocative, the colours pale, suggesting the dreamed, the felt, rather than the observed."[28] A review in The Atlantic Monthly praised Faeries as a "pretty book" with "lavish, colorful illustrations", but found its text lacked the "sly satire that distinguished Gnomes."[22]

New York Times reviewer Helen Bevington praised the tales as "fascinating" and illustrations as "both beautiful and grotesque", but held the criticism that the text did not clearly distinguish fact from fancy.[29] This criticism was shared by M. L. del Mastro in Library Journal, who wrote that although "curious lore and visual appeal make the book a nice portfolio", "Faeries suffers from three defects. The text follow no discernable plan. The authors have neglected to establish a point of view: jumbling the scholar's "it is believed" with the believer's "it is" and the satirist's implied "it ought to be" they have not taken their subject seriously, and have left fairies neither mythic, magic, nor figmentary".[20]

Award nominations

Faeries won second place in the 1979 Locus Award for Best Art Book[30] and was nominated for the 1979 Balrog Award for Best Professional Publication.[31]

Release history

Country Release date Edition
(Hardback/Paperback) 		Publisher Pages ISBN
United States November 1978 Hardback Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 208 ISBN 978-0-8109-0901-4
31 December 1978 Paperback Bantam Books 192 ISBN 978-0-553-01159-3
1 April 1995 Hardback (Reprint) Abrams 208 ISBN 978-0-8109-0901-4
18 November 2002 Hardback (Anniversary edition) 216 ISBN 978-0-8109-3274-6
10 October 2010 Hardback (Deluxe Collector's edition) 208 ISBN 978-0-8109-9586-4
United Kingdom 9 November 1978 Hardback Souvenir Press 188 ISBN 978-0-285-62359-0
12 October 1979 Paperback (New edition) Pan Books 208 ISBN 978-0-330-25756-5
11 November 2002 Paperback (Anniversary edition) Pavilion Books 216 ISBN 978-1-86205-558-2
Australia 31 December 1978 Paperback Books for Pleasure 208 ISBN 978-0-7296-0104-7
1978 Hardback 208 ISBN 978-0-7296-0104-8

Other language editions

Pop-up version

In 1980, a 12-page pop-up version for children was published as The Faeries Pop-up Book[32] by Abrams in the U.S.[33] and Kestral Books in the U.K.[34]

Adaptations and follow-ups

Faeries was the basis of a 1981 animated special of the same name directed by Lee Mishkin that appeared on CBS in the United States. Henson Associates were the merchandising agents for Faeries.[35]

Froud followed Faeries with several art books, including Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (1998)[15][6] and Brian Froud's Faeries' Tales (2014).[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ Stableford, Brian (2009) [First published 2005 as Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature]. The A to Z of Fantasy Literature. Historical Dictionaries. Scarecrow Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-8108-6345-3.
  2. ^ Gregory, Rhys (7 December 2019). "World Renowned Artists And Designers Inspire Next Generation Of Creatives". Wales247.co.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Hauptfuhrer, Fred (19 March 1979). "For Artists Alan Lee & Brian Froud, Life Is a Faerie Tale Come True". People. Vol. 11, no. 11. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Reviews Annex: Illustrated". Publishers Weekly Online. 11 October 2002. Gale A477397429.
  5. ^ a b "Best Sellers". The New York Times. 19 November 1978. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d Kiefer, Michael (6 May 2003). "Magical tide washes Faeryland onto red rocks of Sedona". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. p. E2. ProQuest 238308265. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Sheryl (16 December 1978). "Faeries". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. p. 64. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b Winters, Gordon (21 December 1978). "'Faeries' beautifully fills gap in modern education". The Lincoln Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. p. 12. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Livingston, Dennis (1979). "Faeries". Futures. 11 (6): 532–534. doi:10.1016/0016-3287(79)90057-0.
  10. ^ Wright, Carol (16 March 2003). "A faery tale". The Manhattan Mercury. Manhattan, Kansas. p. D2. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Barry, Edward (3 December 1978). "Potpourri: The splendor of Tut's tomb, a seaside cottage". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. E3. ProQuest 169719080.
  12. ^ Hadden, Briton; Luce, Henry Robinson, eds. (1978). "Time, Volume 112". Time Inc. p. 214.
  13. ^ Beagle, Peter S (2 December 1979). Giants — They're Mostly Big and Dumb. San Francisco, California. p. 4. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com. ((cite book)): |newspaper= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ Garth, John (28 May 2017). "The man who brings Tolkien to life". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  15. ^ a b c Cline, Lynn (1 November 2002). "Brian Froud's Enchanting Faerie World". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Santa Fe, New Mexico. p. 34. ProQuest 331467425 Gale A180362518.
  16. ^ Reik, Constance (1985). The Nature of the British Fairies of Medieval and Folk Literature: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900–1983 (M.A). Western Michigan University. pp. 40–41. ISBN 9798641585376. ProQuest 303426717.
  17. ^ Barder, Ollie (13 September 2019). "Brian Froud On 'The Dark Crystal', 'Labyrinth' And His Love Of Nature". Forbes. Archived from the original on 25 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  18. ^ a b Fimi, Dimitra (2011). "Filming Folklore: Adapting Fantasy for the Big Screen through Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings". In Bogstad, Janice M.; Kaveny, Philip E. (eds.). Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy. McFarland. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-7864-8473-7.
  19. ^ Clarke, James (2017). The Year of the Geek: 365 Adventures from the Sci-Fi Universe. Aurum Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-78131-693-1.
  20. ^ a b M. L., del Mastro (1 January 1979). "Faeries". Library Journal. 104 (1): 123. EBSCOhost 5794266.
  21. ^ "THE LIGHT FANTASTIC". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. 3 December 1978. p. E10. ProQuest 146850547.
  22. ^ a b "Faeries". The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. 242, no. 6. Boston, U.S. December 1978. p. 97. ProQuest 204093881.
  23. ^ a b Dawson, Sue (27 January 1979). "Existence of 'Gnomes' is no secret". Journal Magazine. The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York. Gannett News Service. p. 4. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Heritage Capital Corporation (2005). Heritage Comics Auctions #815 Pini Collection Catalog. Ivy Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-932899-50-4.
  25. ^ Pike, Sarah M. (2014). "Selling Infinite Selves: Youth Culture and Contemporary Festivals". In Stievermann, Jan; Goff, Philip; Junker, Detlef (eds.). Religion and the Marketplace in the United States. Oxford University Press. pp. 191–214. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199361793.003.0009. ISBN 978-0-19-026657-8.
  26. ^ a b Justus, Ed; Justus, Cynthia (2 March 2018). "Do you believe in 'Faeries'?". The Garden Island. Lihue, Hawaii. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  27. ^ "New York Times Saturday Review of Books and Art". The New York Times Book Review. Vol. 2. 1979. p. L.
  28. ^ Hunter, Stephen (10 December 1978). "Books of wonder, books of light...". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. p. D5. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Bevington, Helen (3 December 1978). "Strange Hauntings". Book Review. The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  30. ^ "Locus Awards 1979". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  31. ^ "Balrog Awards 1979". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  32. ^ The Junior Bookshelf, Volume 44. Marsh Hall. 1980. p. 214.
  33. ^ Froud, Brian; Lee, Alan (1 June 1980). The Faeries Pop-up Book. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8109-0910-6.
  34. ^ Froud, Brian; Lee, Alan (2 October 1980). The Faeries Pop-up Book. London: Kestral Books. ISBN 978-0-7226-5705-8.
  35. ^ Lambinus, Gene (22 February 1981). "Television Week". The New York Times. p. GU3. ProQuest 121868770.
  36. ^ McWilliams, Kathleen (9 October 2014). "Fantasty artists present faerie anthology". The Daily Campus. Carlsbad: University of Connecticut via University Wire. ProQuest 1651888999.

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