Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist and literary critic. One of the greatest ironies of his life is that although he wrote for a living, and published many books of fiction and poetry, as well as articles on anthropology and history, he is best known for the books he did not write – specifically the 12 collected works known as Andrew Lang’s Coloured Fairy Books.

The Original Fairy Books were put together by Lang at the end of the 19th century, and each volume gathers together classic tales of wonder from around the world. Lang was actually the editor of these books, not the author. He made most of the selections of which tales would appear in the books, but the translation and retelling of the stories was in fact carried out by his wife and other translators.

Head on over to the full illustrated bibliography of the Folio Society Rainbow Fairy Book collection for more details on the contents and illustrators of these very special books.