The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies (A Golden Classic)

Like most here I too had this book as a child. It along with The Tall Book Of Make Believe were my favorites. I still have my tattered copy of the tall book and I mean tattered. When I was around 14 yr old or so I gave my copy of this book away to the children I was babysitting for. Being much too old for such childish things. I have regretted it for years. I don't regret I shared that was a good thing but as I got older I longed to read those beloved stories just once more.After reading some of the reviews here I was afraid I would be disappointed in how the colors in the book are not the same. I will say my original had a green background on the cover. I find this copy to be excellent. I think the difference is the new copy is on heavy glossy paper and the original on heavy matte paper. Same as with wall paint the more gloss the lighter the color gets. That aside I have nothing bad to say, just a difference in media.When I got the package I was almost shaking. I opened the box and gasped in delight! I never thought I would see this wonderful book again. First I gently looked at all the pictures and floods of memories came to me of every night having stories read to me from this book. My favorites were and still are The Cannery Bear and The Lost Merbaby. There is not a bad story in the book. The inside covers are so enchanting, I remember looking at it for such a long time and making up my own enchanted forest stories.This is a must have in every child's library be they 2 or 100 yrs old. The language is older proper English which was really music to my ears. I sat down and read The Lost Merbaby out loud just to me and the dog. Wonderful.....simply wonderful. My old copy had been handed down to me from an older cousin and was quite torn up when I got it in approx 1958, never saw a dust cover the the clear coating on the cover was yellow and peeling off.If you had this as a child you will not be disappointed, just consider the difference between the paper types, the Garth William illustration as just as enchanting now as they were now. Enjoy!

Im almost 80. I had this book as a child and recently ordered it as a gift for my brother to share with his small grandson. I hope it inspires him to look under flowers for fairies, as it inspired me long ago!

This was my favorite childhood book and I still have the original but it was a bit worn so I bought a new one for my granddaughter. The stories still hold up well for little ones and the illustrations are enchanting, whimsical, & sweet!!

I love this book. The stories and poems are things I will always remember.While the reprint might lose a little something in terms of the illustrations, they are all still gorgeous and so detailed you will always notice something new.The Cannery Bear, Ring Around the Moon, The Brownie in the Garden...I bought copies of this for all my nieces, nephews and children of cousins, as it includes wonderful things such as this: (from memory)"In the Leprechaun's house, on the living room shelfstands a small golden box with a key.And, within that wee box, so he told me himself,is a treasure intended for me.Though I long to stop in, and learn what it may be,this marvelous treasure he gives,the wee man, I guess, is forgetful, like me,for he didn't say just where he lives."

I never owned the original of this book, so can make no comparison on that basis. However, I do own "The Tall Book of Make-Believe" from the same time period, illustrated by Garth Williams, and find the difference in the quality of the illustrations to be striking.The pictures in this book are both washed-out and over-saturated. The colors are all wrong, and are really kind of garish. The lines in the images look harsh and sloppy. As a fan of Garth Williams, I've never seen his artwork look so shabby, and so deduce it must be a cheap and poorly thought-out to the printing. I would have gladly paid more for better quality in this department.Also, in relation to the printing, it left the book with such an acrid stench that I had to air it out in the outdoors for a couple of days before I could read it. I'm sensitive to smells, but this really was headache-inducing, and initially made the book unreadable.The book itself is actually quite nice, save for the gross error in printing. Many of the stories are pleasant, and interesting to read, as are the poems. I don't have the memories to accompany the stories, so I do in fact prefer "The Tall Book of Make-Believe" in terms of both content and illustrations, but I can certainly understand how others might find this book quite nostalgic. Perhaps it will grow on me.I'd love to get my hands on a 1951 copy, if for no other reason than to see if the true illustrations would leave me feeling differently. As is, it's a nice book for our Garth Williams collection, but it didn't really "wow" me as I'd hoped it would.

This was one of my favorite books as a young girl. Someone gave it to my sister when she was three. We both loved it. My daughter fell in love with it when she was about 5 but you couldn’t get it anymore. I found it by accident around 12 years ago while searching for books on fairytales and legends for a class lesson. Everyone has loved this book!! Now I am starting a whole new group of children on the way to loving it too. Great gift for young children from 2 to 10.

This collection of stories, with their unique illustrations, has stayed in my memory from childhood half a century ago. Great to see it back in print. The quality of the colour illustrations is not as good as the original, but for the price this is great value for money. I bought it for my granddaughter and hope that it will fire her imagination and provide her with wonderful memories.

I had this book as a child, long ago given away but I always remembered the story about a bear with his shoes on backwards and a pink fairy bear!I have looked for this book in second hand bookshops to no avail, then I discovered it had been republished and here it was on Amazon.Just as I remembered, there was the bear with his shoes on backwards! I'll have great pleasure sharing these stories and poems with my grandchildren.

my little boys love this - lots of little naughty people! each story is short enough for a bedtime story but long enough to keep them interested.

Exactly as I remember from the 1950s!! Now it is time for my grandchildren to enjoy - and my children to re-acquaint themselves with it!

Es una preciosidad el libro, me encanta.