LANG, Andrew - Complete Set of 12 "Fairy Books" [Longmans, 1890-1928]

LANG, Andrew [editor]. The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book. The Green Fairy Book, The Yellow Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, The Grey Fairy Book, The Violet Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, The Orange Fairy Book, The Olive Fairy Book, and The Lilac Fairy Book.

London: Longman's, Green, and Co, 1890-1928. Mixed issues with "Red" being a first printing and "Violet" being the latest (1928). 7.5" x 5.25", each illustrated by H.J. Ford. "Red" has significant rubbing of the cloth with a split to the spine cloth, as well as some "hand colored" (by previous owner) illustrations, Good- condition. The remaining volumes are all VG- to VG with minor external wear. A very rare set to find complete.

Andrew Lang’s color-titled Fairy Book series gathered stories from European, Near Eastern, African, and Asian sources. Each book was paired with new illustrations by H. J. Ford, whose work remained consistent across the full run of the series. The sequence became one of the most widely distributed Victorian collections of traditional tales and established the format that Longmans continued to reissue into the early 20th century.