Aesop’s Fables Illustrated

This illustrated collection includes hundreds of fables that have influenced our world for centuries.

The stories attributed to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in Greece around 620-564 BCE, were originally passed on through oral tradition before first being transcribed several centuries after his death. Many of these fables use animals as the main characters to convey deeper meanings and morals that have become ingrained in our cultural and personal belief systems, such as ＂The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs,＂ ＂The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,＂ and ＂The Hare and the Tortoise.＂ This elegant leather-bound volume includes 487 fables, along with more than 100 illustrations by celebrated artists Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane. Aesop’s Fables is one of the world’s most well-known collections of stories, and has influenced thousands of other literary works. A scholarly introduction examines Aesop’s life and the oral tradition, providing readers with further insight into the world of the humble storyteller whose presence continues to touch us today.

Aesop was a fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop’s Fables. Although his existence remains uncertain and (if they ever existed) no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics.

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) was a British illustrator.

Walter Crane (1845-1915) was an English artist, book illustrator, and one of the most influential children’s book creators of his generation. Crane produced not only paintings and illustrations for children’s books, but also ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. From 1859 to 1862, Crane was apprenticed to wood-engraver William James Linton and had the opportunity to study works by many contemporary artists, including Sir John Tenniel, the illustrator of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.