New-York tribune., 1901-12-07

NINE UNLIKELY. TALES EcR r, 6 GHELPMRiIEIN, ! MiIIaT
Dnodecimo. Duo pp. xiii 2s7. E. p Dutton & Co
FOLLY IN FARMLAND. BY Carolyn Wells With
Iustrations by Wallace a9rra Moigan Company
STORIES OF ENCHANTMENT. By Jane f,iPs Psntzer Ss
DHodecimo, DID. 215. Chicago: A c. McClurg
Co
the Pukwudjies. By Herbert Quick ns,nne MN
Forty-three Illustrations by E W DeInlns-
THE MAGIC KEY. BY Elizabeth S Tucker m WIZ 15S
Illustrations by the Author, Or Duooecihi0 pp 49,
Boston: Little, Brown Co.
Cory. Ducdecimo. PIP. 2fS lndianapois' ihe
Bowen-Merrill Company
Christmas without book Of fairy tales
edited by Mr.. Andrew Lang to thousands oi
youngsters would probably not seem ChrlstiIas
at all. This year we have from MIN Inc
Violet Fairy Book" made up, like its predeces-
sors. of a lot of stories translated out Of num-
Der of different languages The editor gooo
b,,r,oredlv repeats once more that he is not the
au.hor of the stories in his fairy books, that he
did not invent them ''out of his own neao-
Ladies go on asking him. he tells US, Have you
written anything else except the falry ooohs-
He is then obliged to explain that he mas not
written them, though, as he says. he mas VIII
ten almost everything else except hyfnhs Sci
mons and dramatic works His latest collectioh
is illustrated by an artist who has worked ~.
this series before and worked well, in black ana
white MI H ]. Ford Eight of his lhustra-
tions are this time printed in color, and very
pretty they
Mr.. J. NJ. Gibbon, in his "Ole King Cole" has
made welcome addition to the series entltleo
THE True Annals of Fairy Land" He mas
gone for his material to Hans Andersen, to the
clrimms to the Arabian Nights and to divers
other golden sources, and he has assembled a
eoodly number of sterling compositions Hair
the merit of this series resides In It's lilustra-
tions. Mr. Charles Robinson has produced an
apparently endless number of altogether De-
witching drawings for the present volume, as
well as a charming frontispiece in colors, ana
dainty end papers. The cover also is in colors
The latest edition of the Fairy Tales Of the
Brothers Grimm gives a new translation OF
the immortal tales by Mrs. Edgar Lucas The
Illustrations, by Mr.. Arthur Rackham, are more
than ordinarily clever, some of these pen draw
ings being, in fact, positively brilliant In
other respects also the edition is beautiful one.
1t is printed in uncommonly good sized type
upon stout paper, and the cover, bearing a
quaint design in colors is of sort to make the
lucky child who receives the book crow with
delight even before he has opened it
There ere five chapters in Anna Wahlenbergs
Swedish Fairy Tales" They have the interest
Of what the seniors would call local color, but
what readers in the nursery will enjoy simply
new 9nd foreign quality The tales are
told with simplicity and with a certain sweet
ness. Miss Armstrong; drawings uneven,
but the frontispiece is acceptable The con-
tents Of the Queen Of Rumanias book have
even more distinctly national a favor. The
,,11,>
rfty. The illustrations by two different
hands Those contributed by Mr. A @. Jones
very clever productions in the familiar
manner of Mr.. Howard Pyle All the pictures
are surrounded by decorative borders effectively
printed in red
"As the Goose Flies which Katherine Pyle
has both written and illustrated, starts off on
an idea which recalls Lewis Carroll Little Ellen
puts out her hand expecting 90 touch hard
cold wall, but she touches vines instead and
goes right through the wall to skies and
trees The things that happen forthwith are
quaint, and they are quantity told. The illus
trations notable for their graceful quality.
The yellow Wymps cavorting on the green
cover of Miss Sharps Round the World to
Wympland most amazing little personages
and IN their country everything is cunningly
devised to astonish young readers At the same
time the latter will be blissfully happy, for
these are very nice stories and they accom-
panied by just the right pictures. Miss Nesbt's
Mine Unlucky Tales for Children" is another
beguiling volume full of droll invention, written
with vivacity, and very well illustrated by Mr.
Miar. We can also commend Folly in Fairy
land" by Miss Carolyn Wells There is. too.
almost as much rhyme as prose in this volume,
and in the writing of both the author is most
engagingly spirited Here is q fragment from
the song about the Travelling Tart, which the
Popular Popinjays sing:
Now truly you would have been amazed
That Travelling Tart to see;
Twas made OF Persimmons and Plums and Eggs.
And it had q hundred and twenty legs.
Or hundred and twenty-three-
The Popinjays yelled and screamed with glee.
The Travelling Tart was round and big
AS big a wagon-wheel;
Twas covered with piecrust, rich and crisp
And it danced about like Will-o- -the-wisp,
In a sort Of Wriggfing reel
And that made the Popinjays laugh and squeal-
The first of Miss Myers's Stories Of Enchant-
n1ent" is ali about the ghost flower Of the
indians. and there are other fantastical motives
exploited in the book. But even the weirdest
Of these tales is set forth with such gentleness
that no child who reads it is likely to have any
but the pleasantest dreams This is mixture.
and a very agreeable one, of folklore and fancy.
The author of In the Fairyland Of America"
also goes to the red man for some of his ideas.
but he is not afraid to introduce notions of his
5wn and the result is a readable little volume.
The small boy whose adventures are related in
The Magic Key has luck which the young
sters who make his acquaintance will envy. He
finds a magic wand with which he is able TO
make tables and clocks perform unexpected
notions. He has end Of iarks. and Elizabeth
; Tucker describes them with VIM IN The