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Editor | David Larkin |
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Authors | Brian Froud, Alan Lee |
Illustrators | Brian Froud, Alan Lee |
Language | English |
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Publication date | November 1978 |
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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]
In total, the book contains 185 illustrations, 147 in full colour. [11] It is published unpaginated. [8] [12]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
Country | Release date | Edition (Hardback/Paperback) | Publisher | Pages | ISBN |
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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 |
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]
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]
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures, a form of spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities.
Brian Froud is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book Faeries with Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). According to Wired, Froud is "one of the most pre-emiminent visualizers of the world of faerie and folktale".
Labyrinth is a 1986 musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson with George Lucas as executive producer. Based on conceptual designs by Brian Froud, the film was written by Terry Jones, and many of its characters are played by puppets produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The film stars Jennifer Connelly as 16-year-old Sarah and David Bowie as Jareth, the Goblin King. In Labyrinth, Sarah embarks on a quest to reach the center of an enormous, otherworldly maze to rescue her infant half-brother Toby, whom she wished away to Jareth.
The Dark Crystal is a 1982 dark fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell, Billie Whitelaw, Percy Edwards, and Barry Dennen. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company and distributed by Universal Pictures. The plot revolves around Jen and Kira, two Gelflings on a quest to restore balance to the world of Thra and overthrow the evil, ruling Skeksis by restoring a powerful broken Crystal.
Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament is a contemporary fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.
Alan Lee is an English book illustrator and film conceptual designer. He is best known for his artwork inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, and for his work on the concept design of Peter Jackson's film adaptations of Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series.
Arthur Rackham was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, which were combined with the use of watercolour, a technique he developed due to his background as a journalistic illustrator.
Thomas Keightley was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly Fairy Mythology (1828), later reprinted as The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People.
Fairy painting is a genre of painting and illustration featuring fairies and fairy tale settings, often with extreme attention to detail. The genre is most closely associated with Victorian painting in the United Kingdom but has experienced a contemporary revival. Moreover, fairy painting was also seen as escapism for Victorians.
John Albert Bauer was a Swedish painter and illustrator. His work is concerned with landscape and mythology, but he also composed portraits. He is best known for his illustrations of early editions of Bland tomtar och troll, an anthology of Swedish folklore and fairy tales.
Charles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comics artist who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His influences include British "Golden Age" book illustrator Arthur Rackham, Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha, and comic-strip artist Hal Foster, among others. Vess has won several awards for his illustrations. Vess' studio, Green Man Press, is located in Abingdon, VA.
Terri Windling is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, and her collection The Armless Maiden appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Toby Froud is an English-American artist, special effects designer, puppeteer, filmmaker, and performer. He rose to prominence for his role as the baby who was wished away to the goblins in the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth. He became a puppeteer, sculptor, and fabricator for film, television, and theatre. He wrote and directed the 2014 fantasy short film Lessons Learned. He was the design supervisor of the 2019 streaming television series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
Wendy Froud is an American doll-artist, sculptor, puppet-maker, and writer. She is best known for her work fabricating Yoda for the 1980 film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, for which she has been called "the mother of Yoda", and creatures for the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Jack-In-Irons is a mythical giant of Yorkshire lore who haunts lonely roads. He is covered with chains and wears the heads of his victims. He wields a large, spiked club. His name may not be Jack as other Yorkshire folklore refers to "Jack in the Green" and more so the name Jack may just be a term for calling the person an unknown male, like John Doe today.
Jareth is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1986 musical fantasy film Labyrinth. Portrayed by David Bowie, Jareth is the powerful and enigmatic king of the goblins to whom protagonist Sarah Williams wishes away her baby brother Toby. Jareth gives Sarah thirteen hours to retrieve the baby from his castle at the centre of an enormous labyrinth, during which time he sets obstacles in her path and tries to entice her away from her quest.
A hag is a wizened old woman, or a kind of fairy or goddess having the appearance of such a woman, often found in folklore and children's tales such as "Hansel and Gretel". Hags are often seen as malevolent, but may also be one of the chosen forms of shapeshifting deities, such as The Morrígan or Badb, who are seen as neither wholly benevolent nor malevolent.
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on the story and country of origin, ranging from mischievous household spirits to malicious, bestial thieves. They often have magical abilities similar to a fairy or demon, such as the ability to shapeshift.
Faeries is a 1981 animated television special that appeared on CBS in the United States. It is based on the 1978 book Faeries, described and illustrated by Brian Froud and Alan Lee. The special was directed by Lee Mishkin with animation direction by Fred Hellmich, executive produced by Thomas W. Moore, Anne Upson and Jean Moore Edwards, and was designed by Alan Aldridge. The special first aired on CBS on February 25, 1981.
Linda Ravenscroft is a self-taught artist and author best known for her paintings and drawings of fantasy subjects. Her work is influenced by William Morris and his contemporaries, as well by more modern illustrators such as Brian Froud. Ravenscroft became a professional artist in 1994 after the birth of her son, Dorian. Her first prints were published in 1998; since then, she has been featured in many Fantasy/Fairy Art books and illustrated and written several tutorial Faerie Art books, such as How to Draw and Paint Fairies (2005). Ravenscroft's work has been widely featured on cards and calendars. In 2013, Linda opened up a gallery, named "The Mystic Garden" after one of her early works, in Glastonbury, Somerset, which she runs with her husband, John.
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