Ernest Rhys – författare

Fairy Gold: A Book of Old English Fairy Tales was compiled by Ernest Rhys (1859 – 1946) and illustrated by Herbert Cole (1867 – 1930). Rhys was a famed writer and editor – best known for his role as founder of the ‘Everyman’s Library’, a series of affordable classics. Rhys was passionate about English folkloric tradition, and making such wonderful works of literature accessible to the common people. The book starts with a quotation from Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, informing the reader that: ‘This is fairy Gold boy; and t’will prove so…’ From here on in, it is a text to amuse, delight, scare and inform – all in equal measures – for young and old alike.Fairy Gold contains a set of wonderful black and white illustrations by Herbert Cole, as well as such well-known tales as ‘The Three Bears’, ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘The Mermaid’ as well as other, near-forgotten English stories such as ‘The Fairy Fair’, ‘Mr and Mrs Vinegar’, ‘The King and the Vipers’ and ‘Queen Mab’s Good Grace.’ The text appears in its original translation, ensuring that none of the work’s initial brilliance is lost.Pook Press celebrates the great ‘Golden Age of Illustration‘ in children’s literature – a period of unparalleled excellence in book illustration from the 1880s to the 1930s. Our collection showcases classic fairy tales, children’s stories, and the work of some of the most celebrated artists, illustrators and authors.

Together with William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats, George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) was one of the most iconic literary figures of the early Romantic movement. His verse covers a wide range of genres, including large scale narrative poems, sonnets, and satirical quips. Byron led a most adventurous life, which included many romantic affairs and he died fighting in the Greek War of Independence. There were two major influences on Byron's poetry. One was the romantic, which he shared with his friends, Coleridge and Shelley; the other was the eighteenth-century Augustan mode, of which Alexander Pope was the greatest master. Byron's natural facility with rhyme and metre enabled him to be very prolific, and some critics considered that this precocity resulted in a certain shallowness and facile charm. However, much of Byron's verse displays both philosophic and emotional depth, and in his more satirical work he evinces a sharpness of perception characteristic of his poetic hero, Pope. This collection contains a wide range of pieces, demonstrating Byron's versatility in form and expression. Also include is a selection of Byron's letters to colleagues, friends, and lovers, which show the poet in his more revealing and unguarded moments.