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Beatrice Phillpott's text, as well as being highly entertaining, is both informed and informative, drawing on mythology, folklore, literature, ballads and poetry, as well as referring to a vast array of art. She describes how the idea of faery has developed over the centuries, pointing out, for instance, that the idea of faeries being tiny and flowery rests almost entirely on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, then taken up by the Jacobean poets. Our present-day image of the faery world owes much to Victorian Romanticism; the prudery of the day was circumvented by portraying nude faeries in classical style.
A good art book is not just compiled or edited; it is designed, and credit must go to this book's designer, Bernard Higton, for creating a clear, clean and beautiful book, entirely in sympathy with its subject matter. My only criticisms are of the lack of an index to the text, and the decision not to identify titles and artists alongside the paintings, necessitating a trawl through the Acknowledgements page. But these are minor niggles in such as splendid book. --David V Barrett
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks512516