Favorites from the Golden Age

I love fairy and folk tales. I love beautifully illustrated books of fairy and folk tales. Actually, add mythology and legend to that to. At around 7 or 8 years old I was obsessed, I mean OBSESSED with Greek mythology. I would bring Edith Hamilton's mythology everywhere. D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths was the bible.
Fast forward to now. While cleaning up at Kepler's, I came across a book full of awesome.
"Once Upon a Time...a Treasury of Classic Fairy Tale Illustrations"

It is full of beautiful pictures from the great artists of the "Golden Age of Illustration". So exciting! Especially after cleaning up the rather sad "fairy tale" section in the kids department. Beautiful stories are trapped in hideous...no worse, tacky books. So many little girls come in begging for a Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty book. Their parents are usually reluctant to scoop up the usual Disney version, or worse the spin off stories like:

Cinderella III: Twist in Time

Yes, I had to look inside. My soul bled, but I had to. I will say one thing...warning spoilers...The Stepmother steals the Fairy Godmother's wand and turns back time. Yep. True.

Another gem:

Make-Believe Bride

Evidently, Ariel has nothing better to do then dream about her wedding. What are we teaching our children?
I am not saying that I don't enjoy the movies. In fact I really enjoy them. Loved 'em as a kid, but it breaks my heart every time I show a little girl Kinuko Y. Craft's beautiful version of Cinderella and she looks at me confused or irritated or a combination of the two and says, "That's not Cinderella."

*The picture is a link to Kinuko Y. Craft's web page where she has some of the books illustrations posted. Definitely worth seeing. My personal favorite is "Cupid and Psyche". Gorgeous*

I like Disney just as much as anyone else, but I hate how it has lead to a homogenization of the way we see certain characters. It's like we're stunting an entire generation's imagination. Just think, the Little Mermaid didn't have a name nor did she have fire engine red hair and giant bangs, but every time you say "little mermaid" Ariel is likely to pop up first in a person's mind.

Enough ranting. The reason I wanted to post was to share 3 recent obsessions.

#1 Arthur Rackham
An English illustrator. Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful. Just look.

His illustrations are not just pretty, they are beautiful and they are also full of character and gorgeous lines.

#2 Edmund Dulac
I was introduced to Dulac paintings (although I didn't pay attention to who it was) through a very tiny "pocket library" of fairy tales. The images are so small, but still radiant. When I got "Once Upon a Time" I was able to see Dulac's illustrations more clearly. Stunning. Incredibly detailed, swooping lines and graceful figures, beautifully muted color palettes, the list could go on and on. I especially love that most of the characters seem slightly melancholic. It somehow makes them more and less real at the same time.

Gerda from Andersen's "The Snow Queen"
Who thought kissing reindeer could be so crushingly tender and beautiful?

#3 Kay Nielsen
A new and exciting discovery. Nielsen's painting are very strange. Oddly flat, but intensely ornate and graceful. My sister finds the rather effeminate men disturbing but I really love Nielsen's strange almost deco (I will probably get corrected on this) style.

Awesome.

Why don't they make fairy tale books with pictures like these any more? Why are there so many, SO many bad ones when there are such amazingly lovely ones that have been around for nearly a hundred years.

Go forth dear reader and experience the beauty of Rackham, Dulac, Nielsen, Dore, Goble, and company. Then spread the gospel.