| Synopsis: |
Joseph Jacob's first volume-English Fairy Tales [1890]-did not exhaust the scanty remains of traditional English folktales. Most of the forty-four tales that appear in More English Fairy Tales had never before appeared in print. In compiling More English Fairy Tales [1894], Joseph Jacobs flouted the Florklorist's creed, choosing to present stories that would fill children's imaginations "with bright trains of images". Vividly painted princesses, Pied Pipers, pots of gold, giants, speaking cats, Kings, Hoybahs, wise men, washerwomen, and more overflow from the pages of this volume, all bound by the common threads of basic moral lessons. Many of the tales were recorded verbatim from storytellers. They are by no means in an authorised form, and even touch on the "vulgar" using archaic and colloquial English. In the times following Jacob's original printing, the literary establishment objected to the use of such archaic colloquialisms. These tales were told for generations in a form that used these dialects and "vulgar" words for effect. However, the traditional form makes these stories all the richer in a modern setting.We invite you to curl up with this volume and be transported back in time to when England had a hundred or more local dialects-a time when the words Lawkamercyme and noddle were commonplace. A percentage of the net sale from this book will be donated to the Prince's Trust for educational scholarships for the underprivileged. |