THE FAIRY TALES OF OSCAR WILDE: An Illuminated Edition

by Oscar Wilde, Yuko Shimizu (Illustrator), Michael Cunningham (Introduction)

Overview

Oscar Wilde's fairy tales are some of his most elegant and charming pieces of writing. He produced two books of fairy tales — THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER TALES, and A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES . They've rarely been collected in one volume — and never with stunning artwork by Yuko Shimizu (THE UNWRITTEN, BARBED WIRE BASEBALL, A WILD SWAN), one of the modern masters of illustration and graphic art. Wilde's original fairy tales are moving, sweet, sad and magical — much like Yuko's artwork. Yuko is one of the most celebrated and admired editorial illustrators in the world, and her work is perfectly aligned with Wilde's witty, rueful voice. The edition also features an original introduction by the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Michael Cunningham. Illuminated Editions is a series of works of classic fiction, prose, and poetry, beautifully designed and lavishly illustrated in exquisitely produced small-batch editions. These volumes intend to harken back to the lovingly crafted, handsomely bound illustrated books of the Victorian era and the golden age of illustration, re-imagined using modern design sensibilities and the most modern techniques in presentation, book-craft, and printing. Each cloth-bound volume in this series is presented in a die-cut slipcase, printed on high quality wood-free uncoated paper, and powerfully elaborated by one of the finest graphic artists in the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948886017
Publisher:	Pace Products, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/21/2020
Series:	Illuminated Editions
Edition description:	Illustrate
Pages:	156
Sales rank:	621,208
Product dimensions:	10.50(w) x 14.20(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

The ever-quotable Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet who delighted Victorian England with his legendary wit. He found critical and popular success with his scintillating plays, chiefly The Importance of Being Earnest, while his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, scandalized readers. Imprisoned for two years for homosexual behavior, Wilde moved to France after his release, where he died destitute.

Date of Birth:

October 16, 1854

Date of Death:

November 30, 1900

Place of Birth:

Dublin, Ireland

Place of Death:

Paris, France

Education:

The Royal School in Enniskillen, Dublin, 1864; Trinity College, Dublin, 1871; Magdalen College, Oxford, England, 1874

Read an Excerpt

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt. He was very much admired indeed. “He is as beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.”

“I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue. “He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores. “How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master, “you have never seen one.” “Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming. One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her. “Shall I love you?” said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer. “It is a ridiculous attachment,” twittered the other Swallows; “she has no money, and far too many relations”; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away. After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love. “She has no conversation,” he said, “and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind.” And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys. “I admit that she is domestic,” he continued, “but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also.” “Will you come away with me?” he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her home. “You have been trifling with me,” he cried. “I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!” and he flew away. All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. “Where shall I put up?” he said; “I hope the town has made preparations.” Then he saw the statue on the tall column. “I will put up there,” he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince. “I have a golden bedroom,” he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him. “What a curious thing!” he cried; “there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful. The Reed used to like the rain, but that was merely her selfishness.” Then another drop fell.

Table of Contents

THE FAIRY TALES OF OSCAR WILDE THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER TALES I. The Happy Prince II. The Nightingale and the Rose III. The Selfish Giant IV. The Devoted Friend V. The Remarkable Rocket A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES VI. The Young King VII. The Birthday of the Infanta IIX. The Fisherman and his Soul IX. The Star-child

Editorial Reviews

I feel certain that these stories have waited almost 130 years to find their true, visual mates – to find, in Shimizu's illustration, a gift that actually stands up to Wilde's in its unflinching embrace of the fabulous, complex, magical world in which we have always lived.” THE FAIRY TALES OF OSCAR WILDE has won the Communication Arts Design Competition, and won Bronze and Silver Cubes from the Art Director's club in the categories of Design and Illustration.

From the Publisher

"Produced in the spirit of the books that Wilde himself saw through the press, [this volume] certainly constitutes one of the most beautiful, artistically designed editions of any of Wilde’s writings."

The Wildean - Nicholas Frankel

"Shimuzu’s illustrations are varied, powerful, and often evoke batik and other resist-dyeing techniques. As impressive as the illustrations are, the design of the book matches them with elegance and inspired use of color and pattern to set each story in its own frame...These limited-edition crowd-funded volumes raise the bar to the highest level of quality and artistry."

LOCUS Magazine - Karen Haber

"These editions hearken the illustrious past of bookmaking, while also adding a tantalizing contemporary take."

Hyperallergic - Sarah Rose Sharp

This is the first of a five-volume series of Russell's adaptations of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales into a comics format. The two retellings here, The Selfish Giant and The Star Child , adeptly capture Wilde's ability to bring a gentle, unexpected note of pathos to the conventional fairy-tale mix of anthropomorphic fantasy and whimsical moral guidance. In The Selfish Giant , the eponymous creature kicks a bunch of frolicking youngsters out of his garden, only to find that frosty winter moves in to take their place, refusing to leave because of his selfishness. In The Star Child, a beautiful but mean , narcissistic boy becomes physically repulsive when he rebuffs a ragged beggar who turns out to be his long lost mother. Russell matches Wilde's literary skills with his estimable artistic talent. His colors are brilliant and pure; his linework sure and fluid, at once cartoonlike and elegantly representational, reflecting both his art-nouveau and pre-Raphaelite influences and the inherent charm of Wilde's material. Ages 5-up. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 7 Up Lovers of Oscar Wilde's stories will delight in this new illustrated version of The Canterville Ghost if the picture book format does not keep them from finding it. Wilde's story of an American family who moves into Canterville Chase and annoys a weary ghost with their lack of belief in him is a wry commentary on the ways of British nobility and of their hard-headed American cousins. Like many of Wilde's tales, this one is filled with sophisticated allusions to his social and political milieu, but ends as sentimental romance. Zwerger's wry pictures highlight this tone beautifully. Her toothless ghost is round and comical, as would suit a ghost whom no one fears, and her heroine, Virginia, is young and sweetly boyish. All of the illustrations are set against misty gray watercolor backgrounds except for the climactic scene, echoed on the front cover, in which the tiny huntsmen on the wallpaper call out to Virginia to ``Go Back.'' This will make a fine read-aloud for audiences of secondary students who are prepared to savor Wilde's ironic humor and Zwerger's delicate watercolors. Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie

School Library Journal

While Russell's precisely detailed, vibrantly colored cartoon art will certainly make this comic strip retelling of two of Oscar Wilde's short stories, "The Selfish Giant" and "The Star Child," a popular browsing item, there's some question about what age group the book will appeal to most. A juvenile-looking dust jacket makes it look a little too much like a picture book, while the yeasty dialogue and syntax used in "Star Child" will be too difficult for young children who use comics as a jumping off point for reading on their own. These children will find "Selfish Giant," the first story in the book, the more accessible tale, while older, better readers will love the suspenseful, multilayered "Star Child," about a beautiful, prejudiced boy who rejects his mother because she is ugly, only to become ugly himself. An uneven but attractive introduction to Wilde's tales, this is the first in a planned series.

Stephanie Zvirin

ger for reading aloud. This beautiful volume features two or three illustrations for each fairy tale. Reminiscent of scenes from illuminated manuscripts, the pictures appear in brilliant colors and gleaming gold, surrounded by wide, decorative borders. Every page of text also has a narrow, vertical border in the same style. In the introduction, Philip contributes a thoughtful appreciation of Oscar Wilde and his fairy tales. Recom mended for libraries where there's room for one more edition of these classic literary tales.

Carolyn Phelan

The second volume in a series of comic book adaptations of Wilde's tales [see BKL Ja 15 93 for previous volume] gives "The Young King" and "The Remarkable Rocket" the Marvel-DC treatment. In elaborate underground "comix" style, Russell reintroduces the tales with an accessible if nontraditional approach to picture-book illustration and better-than-average adaptations of the original texts. Whether you believe circulating comics in the library is appropriate or not, this full-color book won't stay on the shelf for long, and it may well attract readers to a genre they might not usually find appealing.

Janice Del Negro