Indian Fairy Tales - Illustrated by John D. Batten

‘Indian Fairy Tales’ is a collection of twenty-nine classic Indian stories, collated by Joseph Jacobs, and accompanied by the masterful black-and-white illustrations of John D. Batten. It includes such tales as ‘The Lion and the Crane’, ‘How the Raja’s Son won the Princess Labam’, ‘The Magic Fiddle’, ‘The Tiger, the Brahman and the Jackal’, ‘The Soothsayer’s Son’, ‘The Gold-giving Serpent’, and many more.

Joseph Jacobs (1854 – 1916), was an Australian folklorist, literary critic, historian and writer of English literature, who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Heavily influenced by the Brothers Grimm and the romantic nationalism ubiquitous in his contemporary folklorists, Jacobs was responsible for introducing English fairy tales to English children, who had previously chiefly enjoyed those derived from French and German folklore.

John Dickson Batten (1860 – 1932), was a British figure painter, as well as a book illustrator and printmaker. He illustrated almost all of Jacob’s works, including, English Fairy Tales (1890), Celtic Fairy Tales (1892), Indian Fairy Tales (1912), and European Folk and Fairy Tales (1916). In addition, Batten is also celebrated for his delicately rendered imaginings of Arabian Nights and Dante’s Inferno. Presented alongside the text, his illustrations further refine and elucidate Joseph Jacob’s enchanting narratives.

Pook Press celebrates the great ‘Golden Age of Illustration‘ in children’s classics and fairy tales – a period of unparalleled excellence in book illustration. We publish rare and vintage Golden Age illustrated books, in high-quality colour editions, so that the masterful artwork and story-telling can continue to delight both young and old.