English Fairy Tales : Macmillan Collector-s Library

Fairy tales are written both to entertain and to educate.

Published in the shadow of the First World War, F. A. Steels retellings of forty-one English fairy tales form a classic collection of stories, ranging from the familiar - Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding-Hood and The Three Little Pigs - to the perhaps less well known - The Black Bull of Norroway, Nix Nought Nothing and The Red Ettin. Originally published in 1918, it reflects the nationalistic concerns of the period.

Steel takes the reader on a journey, from Cornwall to Bamburgh Castle via a palace by the sea, as well as high into the sky, where a giant lives. The magical tales in English Fairy Tales are brought to life by one of the best-known illustrators of the time, Arthur Rackham.