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n ThenRed Fairy Book,
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n ThenGreen Fairy Book,
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n ThenYellow Fairy Book,
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nThenPink and the Grey and the Crimson and the Violetnand the Brown and the Orange and the Olive andnthe Lilac Fairy Books!
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nTryingnto list all of Scotsman Andrew Lang’s books is a big order—becausenthese twelve books are just a fraction of all the books he has published!nAndrew Lang is credited with writing many articles and books onnliterary criticism (which means he reviewed books that other peoplenwrote), anthropology, mythology, history, and travel. He also wrotenfiction and poetry. But he is most famous for his Fairy Books ofnMany Colours.
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nWhich,nby the way, he didn’t actually write!
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nAndrewnLang, born on this date in 1844, is primarily known as a collector ofnfairy tales and editor of the Fairy Book series. He cultivatednmany different sources, people who traveled about, discovering andnwriting down oral stories from all over the world. Lang edited thenstories so that they were suitable for children, hired illustratorsnto depict the stories, and published them in volumes. n
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nOnenof Lang’s brilliant ideas was publishing the books with colorednbindings that matched their titles. In this simple way Lang created anbrand that people could recognize and collect, back in a time whennthere was very little product branding. If a family already owned twonor three of his fairy books, it was quite likely that they would gonon collecting each as it was published. n
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nAndrewnLang’s illustrated fairy books were hugely popular and just as hugelyninfluential on children’s literature! Many other people jumped on thenbandwagon and published collections of fairy tales.
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nCelebratenLang by reading fairy tales, of course. n
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- Herenis a website with links to manynof Lang’s books, including the FairynBooks.
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- Herenis a website that displays manynof H.J. Ford’s illlustrations for the Lang FairynBooks. Click thenpictures that you want to see in larger format!
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- Atnthe bottom of this post are two fairyncrafts.
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nOr…Create your own collection!
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nYouncould choose your own favorite fairy tales (from anywhere andneverywhere), print them out, illustrate them, and thereby create yournown Fairy Book.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nEaster (also here)
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nFreedom Day in Malta
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nCesarnChavez Day
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nChemistnRobert Bunsen’s birthday