Richard Doyle – illustratör

The story of Jack, the intrepid boy whose courage and ingenuity defeated a host of many-headed giants, has been told to children for hundreds of years. In 1842, when he was just 18, Richard Doyle, whose natural talent for draftsmanship was matched by imaginative invention and a passion for legend and the grotesque, created a picture-book version of Jack the Giant Killer, with hand-written text and a watercolor within a pictorial border decorating every page. It has remained one of the most beloved versions of this timeless tale.In this new Everyman''s edition, Doyle''s vivid, wonderfully engaging illustrations have been enlarged and the text has been given greater legibility. It is a book that will satisfy both the child''s delight in scariness, wonder, and magic, and the collector''s pleasure in classic Victorian illustration.

With illustrations by Edward Landseer, Daniel Maclise, Clarkson Stanfield, Frank Stone, Richard Doyle, John Leech and John Tenniel, and with a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex.In these five long stories, written specifically for Christmas, Dickens combines his concern for social ills with the myths and memories of childhood and traditional seasonal lore.A Christmas Carol, the first of the selection, has become a touchstone of English festive fiction and an enduring favourite internationally. Repeatedly adapted, parodied, staged and filmed, this richly influential tale is powerfully vivid and moving.The other stories, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man, blend whimsy, sentiment, comedy, satire, the didactic and the fantastic, developing resourcefully the theme of individual and social regeneration.

ONCE upon a time, when Fairies were much more common than they are now, there lived a King and a Queen. Their country was close to Fairy Land, and very often the little Elves would cross over the border, and come into the King''s fields and gardens. The girl-fairies would swing out of the bells of the fuschias, and loll on the leaves, and drink the little drops of dew that fell down the stems. Here you may see all the Fairies making themselves merry at a picnic on a fuschia, and an ugly little Dwarf is climbing up the stalk.Here''s the King, in mournful mood,They''d amuse him, if they could!Now the King and Queen of the country next to Fairy Land were very rich, and very fond of each other; but one thing made them unhappy. They had no child, neither boy nor girl, to sit on the Throne when they were dead and gone. Often the Queen said she wished she had a child, even if it were no bigger than her thumb; and she hoped the Fairies might hear her and help her. But they never took any notice. One day, when the King had been counting out his money all day (the day when the tributes were paid in), he grew very tired. He took off his crown, and went into his garden.Then he looked all round his kingdom, and said, "Ah! I would give it all for a BABY!"

This carefully crafted ebook: "Children''s Tales from Dickens – The Great Classics & The Wonderful Stories for Children (Illustrated Edition)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents:Stories About Children Every Child Can Read:Trotty Veck and MegTiny TimThe Runaway CoupleLittle DorritThe Toy-Maker and His Blind DaughterLittle NellLittle David CopperfieldJenny WrenPip''s AdventureTodgers''Dick Swiveller and the MarchionessMr. Wardle''s Servant JoeThe Brave and Honest Boy, Oliver TwistNovels:Oliver TwistNicholas NicklebyThe Old Curiosity ShopMartin ChuzzlewitDavid CopperfieldGreat ExpectationsChristmas Novellas:A Christmas CarolThe ChimesThe Cricket on the HearthChildren''s Books:Child''s Dream of a StarHoliday RomanceDickens''s ChildrenChristmas StoriesA Christmas TreeThe Poor Relation''s StoryThe Child''s StoryThe Schoolboy''s StoryNobody''s StoryThe Christmas GoblinTom Tiddler''s GroundA Child''s History of EnglandCharles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world''s best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.