This gorgeous book is a collection of 43 Indian folk-tales retold here by W. D. Rouse to delight children. These wonderful tales are accompanied by many beautiful and intricate black and white illustrations by W. Heath Robinson.

This gorgeous book is a collection of 43 Indian folk-tales superbly illustrated by W. Heath Robinson. These tales were originally collected by William Crooke but are retold here by W. D. Rouse to delight children. Rouse has chosen to keep this selection confined to the Beast Stories which are particularly interesting as being mostly indigenous and little affected by so-called Aryan influence. Any changes made by Rouse have been included in a notes section which also include the sources of each tale alongside a few obvious parallels or references to literature of the subject. Tales include: The Talking Thrush, The Judgment of the Jackal, The Camel’s Neck, The Foolish Wolf, The Grateful Goat, The King of Mice, The Bull and the Bullfinch and many more. These wonderful tales are accompanied by many beautiful and intricate black and white illustrations by W. Heath Robinson. An English cartoonist and illustrator, best known for drawings of ridiculously complicated machines – for achieving deceptively simple objectives. Such was (and is) his fame, that the term ‘Heath Robinson’ entered the English language during the First World War, as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance. Originally published in 1899, we are now republishing it here as part of our ‘Pook Press’ imprint, celebrating the golden age of illustration in children’s literature.

This enchanting volume is a new collection of W. Heath Robinson’s fantastical fairy tale art and children’s book illustrations, produced across a 50-year career during the Golden Age of Illustration. “Your absurd, beautiful drawings . . . give me a particular pleasure of the mind like nothing else in the world” —H. G. Wells, 1914 In honour of W. Heath Robinson’s 150th birthday, this brand new collection features the pioneering artist’s classic fairy tale illustrations. This carefully curated volume presents 100 black and white illustrations and 54 full-colour fairy tale artworks. Each image is presented as a full-page plate and is accompanied by its original caption and publication details. The artist is much-loved for his innovative cartoons of bizarre machinery, and his fairy tale work also displays elements of the fantastical. Robinson’s children’s drawings juxtapose his machinery cartoons. His fairy tale illustrations veer away from the absurd and explore themes of magic and romanticism. The contents of this fairy tale treasury include illustrations from some of the most-adored children's storybooks such as: The Giant Crab (1897), Arabian Nights (1899), The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902), Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales (1913), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1914) and many more. Proudly published in a new collection by Pook Press, these wonderful Golden Age illustrations have been collated in a celebration of Robinson’s timeless work. This beautiful volume is not to be missed by fans of W. Heath Robinson and is the perfect gift for fairy tale lovers.

William Heath Robinson remains one of Britain's best-loved illustrators and has embedded himself into English vernacular, inspiring the phrase ' it's all a bit Heath Robinson' to describe any precarious or unnecessarily complex contraption. Born in London, he originally had ambitions to be a landscape painter, but would establish his artistic reputation as a book illustrator during the genre's so-called golden age. It was his association with weekly illustrated magazine The Sketch that was to launch and cement his legacy as a humorous artist. Combining a distinctive draughtsmanship with a curious and ingenious mind, the advent of the First World War inspired Heath Robinson to dream up a series of increasingly outlandish and bizarre military inventions with which the opposing armies would try to outwit each other. From the kaiser's campaigning car or a suggestion for an armoured bayonet curler, to post-war 'unbullying' of beef, his cartoons are a fantastically absurd take on wartime technology and home-front life. Sadly, his inventions were rejected by a (fictitious) 'Inventions Board', but the charm and eccentricity of his ideas was loved by the public and he remains to this day one of the finest exponents of humorous British art.