New Releases by Brian Alderson

Presents a social history of childhood through a collection of 20,000 rare books, comics, and other printed material, plus toys and games.

A big, beautiful book of over fifty best-loved traditional children''s rhymes, from one of today''s foremost illustrators. Full-color.

To commemorate the centenary of the death of the artist and illustrator Randolph Caldecott, Brian Alderson, noted historian of children''s literature and children''s book editor of The Times, has prepared for the British Library an exhibition designed to pay tribute to Caldecott''s skills as a creator of picture books, which will run from October 1986. This book, incorporating a catalogue of the exhibition, with its many illustrations in colour and black and white, both demonstrates Caldecott''s genius and provides a brief critical history of an important area of children''s book publishing. Comedy, storytelling and graphic exuberance are all part of the great tradition of book illustration that runs from Hogarth and Rowlandson down to the present day, and Caldecott''s special genius was to have embodied these qualities in the subjects he chose. Together with an appraisal of those who influenced Caldecott and the effect he had on later generations of illustrators, Brian Alderson explains the relationship between pictures and text, techniques (wood-cuts, wood-engraving, intaglio printing), the effect of industrialisation on the picture book and the subsequent development of book illustration.

Dancing princesses, golden eggs, and evil knights are found in this second volume of Andrew Lang''s fairy tales gathered in the late 19th century "Once upon a time, in the middle of winter when the snow-flakes were falling like feathers on the earth, a Queen sat at a window framed in black ebony and sewed. And as she sewed and gazed out to the white landscape, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell on the snow outside..." Andrew Lang began gathering fairy tales with the aim of conserving "the old stories that have pleased so many generations." This bold and eclectic anthology contains wonderful renditions of old favorites such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, as well as some little-known stories like The Death of Koschei the Deathless and The Nettle Spinner. Be transported to a land full of marvels and magic: a world of enchanted forests and isolated castles; of giants, fairies, and trolls; of treasure, music, and promise. Andrew Lang''s fairy books helped to lay the foundation for our continuing fascination with fairy tales as entertainment and cultural objects. The book is republished here with a stunning red jacket, accompanied throughout by the original illustrations.

Once upon a time in a certain country there lived a king whose palace was surrounded by a spacious garden. But, though the gardeners were many and the soil was good, this garden yielded neither flowers nor fruits, not even grass or shady trees. The King was in despair about it, when a wise old man said to him: "Your gardeners do not understand their business: but what can you expect of men whose fathers were cobblers and carpenters? How should they have learned to cultivate your garden?" "You are quite right," cried the King. "Therefore," continued the old man, "you should send for a gardener whose father and grandfather have been gardeners before him, and very soon your garden will be full of green grass and gay flowers, and you will enjoy its delicious fruit." So the King sent messengers to every town, village, and hamlet in his dominions, to look for a gardener whose forefathers had been gardeners also, and after forty days one was found. "Come with us and be gardener to the King," they said to him. "How can I go to the King," said the gardener, "a poor wretch like me?" "That is of no consequence," they answered. "Here are new clothes for you and your family." "But I owe money to several people." "We will pay your debts," they said. So the gardener allowed himself to be persuaded, and went away with the messengers, taking his wife and his son with him; and the King, delighted to have found a real gardener, entrusted him with the care of his garden. The man found no difficulty in making the royal garden produce flowers and fruit, and at the end of a year the park was not like the same place, and the King showered gifts upon his new servant.