Everyman's Library CHILDREN'S CLASSICS

This most beloved of all fairy tales is told in many versions and found in many different cultures - from the Italian CENERANTOLA to the Russian CHERNUSHKA For this edition, first published in 1919, Charles Sedon Evans, a schoolmaster turned publisher, used the features of the tale as told by Charles Perrault - the pumpkin coach the mice horses, the rat coachman, the lizard footmen and the glass slipper - but expanded it to a full-length story so as to offer Arthur Rackham maximum opportunity to illustrate every step of the drama with his exquisite silhouette drawings. This is one of the most beautiful and delightful children's book ever published.

The grandniece of Mark Twain is now remembered only for the last two books she wrote, DADDY-LONG-LEGS (1912) and its sequal DEAR ENEMY (1915). Both remain endearing stories that, as the critic Naomi Lewis says ' make rewarding reading'. Told in the form of letters, this modern version of the Cinderalla tale is an irresistible love-story of an orphan and her unknown benefactor.

Although E. Nesbit regarded her poetry as her most important work, it is her children's books (written 'to keep the house going') that ensured her lasting fame and which are still enjoyed with such affection today. Her readers have their oen favourites, but the film version of THE RAILWAY CHILDREN, with Jenny Agutter as Roberta, the eldest daughter of the man unjustly sent to prison, and the Bernard Cribbins as the friendly railway porter, brought the book to a new generation of readers who love it for Roberta's courage and the satisfaction of the ending when her father is vindicated and restored to his family. The film is regularly shown on British Television.

This story of two spoilt and lonely children, whose happiness is regained as they bring to life a neglected garden, has become the best-loved of all Mrs. Burnett's books, but it did not acquire universal popularity until long after its first publication in 1911 Although set in Yorkshire, it was inspired by the rose garden at Great Maytham Hall in Kent (which still flourishes) where its much-travelled author lived from 1898 to 1907. The story has many illustrators, bur none has surpassed Charles Robinson who first created in his pictures the romantic and mysterious atmosphere of Misselthwaite Manor and the locked, forgotten garden.

Aesop is believed to have lived in the sixth century B.C., a slave on the Greek island of Samos. His ability to teach lessons in morality through story has made his name synonymous with the genre of 'fable'. In the witty and entertaining tales attributed to him sly foxes, wicked wolves, industrious ants, and others, provide a commentary on human behaviour while the storyteller recommends the virtues of common sense and worldly wisdom. The Fables had already been popular for centuries before Roger L'Estrange published a new English translation in 1692, with the declared intention of making a comprehensive selection addressed to children. Everyman reprints his text, together with Stephen Gooden's superb engravings which were first published in 1936 in a limited edition.

Frank Baum set out to write 'a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nighmares are left out'. Published in May 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had sold 100,000 copies by the following January, proving that this was exactly what his young readers wanted. The story of Dorothy, carried by a cyclone from a her uncle's Kansas farm to the Land of Oz, and her adventures on the yellow brick road with the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, has been an firm favourite with children ever since. The original illustrations by W. W. Denslow, which are reflected in the film and stage versions, have often been imitated but never surpassed.

Lewis Carroll's Alice has been enchanting children for over 150 years. Head strong Alice, the impatient White Rabbit, the fearsome Queen of Hearts and the hilarious Mad Hatter are among the best loved literary creations.
This beautiful collectable illustrated edition has the original illustrations and is cloth bound.