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A review by absentminded_reader
English Fairy Tales by Flora Annie Steel
4.0
There were many wonderful fairy tales included in Jacobs' collection (which is actually two books compiled as one), but my reading spurts would be stopped cold by the occasional klunker. In the end, however, I enjoyed the book, most especially because of the footnotes from the author at the end of the book. Sometimes he'd admit he had no idea what particular expressions meant, including them in 1890 for their flavor. Sometimes he'd admit a story was an amalgamation of different stories taken from various sources. I enjoyed reading his occasional comments on the Grimm brothers as peers. Even though their work preceded him by decades, they were writing in the same era. And then he'd write dissertations on the folktale's origins as he did for "Childe Rowland", a story so well known in Shakespeare's day that it was referenced in King Lear, where Jacobs discussed how the themes of the tale inspired Milton, how the original people of the mounds were the originators of all things fae.
In the end, I found more than a handful of unknown fairy tales that entertained and delighted. Fairies got up to no good; evil step mothers reined unholy terror on their poor stepdaughters; clever children were very clever indeed; predecessors to famous tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, Rumpelstiltskin, the Three Bears (without Goldilocks), and Sleeping Beauty had an otherworldly feel due to their originality; and delightfully, thieves were allowed to be thieves—even heroes—without any sententious messages on the evils of crime. Although I was not a fan of the silly, repetitious folktales peppered throughout the collection, the longer folktales didn't disappoint.
There is apparently an edition out there of this book illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Whether they are original illustrations or those borrowed from other books, I hope to one day add it to my paper book collection.
In the end, I found more than a handful of unknown fairy tales that entertained and delighted. Fairies got up to no good; evil step mothers reined unholy terror on their poor stepdaughters; clever children were very clever indeed; predecessors to famous tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, Rumpelstiltskin, the Three Bears (without Goldilocks), and Sleeping Beauty had an otherworldly feel due to their originality; and delightfully, thieves were allowed to be thieves—even heroes—without any sententious messages on the evils of crime. Although I was not a fan of the silly, repetitious folktales peppered throughout the collection, the longer folktales didn't disappoint.
There is apparently an edition out there of this book illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Whether they are original illustrations or those borrowed from other books, I hope to one day add it to my paper book collection.