GIFT-BOOKS.
FAIRY AND OTHER STORIES.*
THE flood of Christmas publications is again upon us. The jaded " grown-up " is once more roused to envy of the young people of to-day, for whom artistic and mechanical skill are so lavishly exerted in a manner that was not dreamed of a few decades ago. Our readers must remember that the "spate" is so overwhelming that we can only bring to their notice a number of books chosen for their quality from the inexhaust- ible quantity that the publishers pour forth ; and that a great deal of "tolerable stuff" must go unnoticed, though much of it is quite capable of giving pleasure to children and others in return for astonishingly low expenditure.
When so many people wag their heads over the materialism of the age, we may hope that the demand for fairy stories justifies the generous supply. To begin with the old friends who appear in new jackets, there is a handsome, well-printed selection from Hans Andersen's ever-fresh Fairy Tales, pro- fusely illustrated by Mr. Heath Robinson. He aims high and is successful. In only one picture is there a hint of the grotesque habit which he assumes in some weekly papers. The coloured plates are excellent, for in addition to his skill in other directions the artist adapts himself, with care and experience, to the mechanical methods of reproduction. His black-and-white pages are perhaps more decorative than illustrative. There is no need to dwell here on the necessity in every good child's education for a study of these stories, nor yet of Grimm's Fairy Tales, of which some sixty appear in a stout volume at a low price. Mr. Monsen has illustrated them with sixteen successful colour-plates. Perhaps be has less technical skill as yet than Mr. Robinson, but he has originality and a great variety of charm. His dwarfs in "Snow-white" show that he can vie with Mr. Rackham, and he can draw far simpler pictures with delightful lines and clever composition. There are also innumerable black-and- white illustrations of all sizes. The small ones are more reminiscent of Dicky Doyle's style than of the Cruikshank drawings which so delighted Ruskin and those of us who
• (1) Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson. London : Constable and Co. [10s. 6d. net.]—(2) Grimm's Parry Tales. Illustrated by J. R. Monsen. London : Cassell and Co. [5s.]—(3) The Arabian Nights. Illustrated by C. Pollrard. London : A. and C. Black. [6s.)—(4) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, By Lewis Carroll. Illustrated by Charles Robinson. London: Cassell and Co. r3s. 6d. net.]—(5) In Poieder and Crinoline. Re-told by Sir A. Quiller•Couch. Illustrated by Kay Nielsen. London : Hodder and Stoughton. [42s. net.]—(6) The Hungarian Fairy Book. By Nindor Pogany. Illustrated by Willy Pogany. London: T. Fisher Unwin. [6s.]—(7) Maoriland Parry Thies. By Edith Howes. London: Ward, Lock and Co. [3s. 6ri. net.]—(8) The Lily of Life. By the Crown Princess of Roumania. Illustrated by Helen Stratton. London: Hodder and Stoughton. [10s. 6d. net.] —(9) My Days with the Fairies. By Mrs. R. Stawell. Illustrated by Edmund Dulac. Same publishers. [6s. net.]— (10) Do-Well and Do-Little. By Dora Sigerson. Illustrated by A. B. Woodward. London: Cassell and Co. [3s. 6d. net.]
were brought up on the translation of Miss Martineau and Mr. Sharpe, which is not used here. Then we have a selection from The Arabian Nights. We are glad that there is a very brief preface expressing some debt to Galland and Sir R. Burton. It shows a lack of grace on the publishers' part that in the first-mentioned books those who have brought so much pleasure to English homes by their translations are wholly unrecognized. Mr. Folkard supplies a dozen coloured illustrations which will certainly add to the pleasure of young readers, though they do not attain much of the mystery at which they aim. Of the last of the classics it is more difficult to write. Correspondents belaud with gratify- ing frequency the fairness of the Spectator to everyone else, and even to themselves occasionally. But what " grown-up " can pretend to be fair when confronted by a new Alice in Wonderland? One mutters, " Impertinence ! " and knows that one is not open to conviction. Tenniel's Alice, Tenniel's Cheshire Cat, and the others have been adopted as our own, and we exclaim that Mr. Charles Robinson's Alice "isn't Alice!" How can we assume an unprejudiced child's position ? Perhaps he or she will prefer a twentieth-century Alice in colours : certainly Mr. Robinson makes a fine decorative show with his Court cards. But why should the Hatter wear his hat upside down ? In the next book on our list some old favourites are retold by Sir A. Quiller-Couch, but those which he borrows from the French are not so well known, and there is one story of his own, a whimsical effort to find an Early Victorian fairyland. We are not sure that children will appre- ciate all his subtleties, but some of the stories ought to please them highly. Apparently the artist chose the title and wished to illustrate fairy stories with characters In Powder and Crino- line. Mr. Nielsen adds to the general sumptuousness of the book with his clever, ambitious, and very decorative pictures, strongly influenced by Beardsley's style. Is it necessary to add the hard saying which, after that, must be obvious ? They are wholly unsuitable for unsophisticated children.
A couple of books follow which will be new to English readers, though not original. The Hungarian Fairy Book contains twenty-seven stories (one is left out of the index). It is high praise to say that they are somewhat like Grimm's Tales. They have here and there more traces of national historical origins. They have also more description of Nature and, of animals, the horse takes a far more prominent place than in the folklore of further north. Most of Mr. Willy Pogainy's illustrations are imitative of old wood-cuts and have a good deal of spirit. The pages are brightened with red initial letters, which have the unfortunate effect of making the narrow margins look beggarly. The Maoriland Fairy Tales are presented by Miss Edith Howes, and no other name is attached to the illustrations. What an ethnologist would say of them we cannot tell. They are short stories of magic on land and sea and in the sky. Some are plainly efforts to explain natural phenomena, such as volcanic eruptions. In spite of some violence and bloodshed there are traces of a dreamy Orientalism. They are tales of a childlike people and should appeal to children. The black-and-white illustra- tions have some good designs in them, but the coloured ones are a little crude.
Finally, there are some new fairy stories by living writers. A British-born Princess has written The Lily of Life, which is a tale of great beauty. There are no fairy characters in it, but the faithful heroine, a human princess, in her journey of love and self-sacrifice is helped by magic and by wise, kindly animals. The author shows considerable powers of imagination and direct expression. It ought to charm older children, but for the young it has this defect, namely, that there is a haunting sadness throughout. The heroine's sufferings might frighten small children, and there is little in the book to add to their gaiety. Miss Stratton's illustrations are well designed and generally maintain a good level, but some of them show up too plainly the limitas tions, or, as some of us would say, the vices, of mechanical reproduction in colours. Mrs. &Atwell has enlarged a former collection of her fairy stories, and gives us My Days with the Fairies, illustrated by Mr. Dulac. These are chiefly tales of flowers, clouds, and other beautiful things which are the homes of fairies, and are very daintily told. Though Mr. Dulac is not so ambitious here as be has been in former illustrated volumes, his eight coloured plates add greatly to the value of the book. His technical skill is very evident and, satisfactory, but in some of the pictures he is content to restrain his originality and follow the lead of Mr. Rackham. Mrs. Shorter has written a rather too good, or "goody," story of twin brothers, Do-well and Do-little, of whom one is a per- fect monster of virtue at his early age, but their adventures are original and very well told. Miss Woodward contributes four brightly coloured, adequate, but rather undistinguished illustrations. On the whole we can certainly congratulate in advance those children who are to have a Christmas present from among the fairy story books of the year.
Previous page
