A richly illustrated collection of Russian folk tales: Tsar Saltan; Vasilisa the Beautiful; Maria Morevna; The Feather of Finist the Falcon; Shmat-Razum; The Frog-Tsarevna; Tsarevich Ivan, the Firebird and the Grey Wolf. The illustrations included in this edition were created in the early 20th century by Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin, a famous Russian illustrator and stage designer, who was inspired by Slavic folklore throughout his career. He was a prominent figure in the artistic movement Mir Iskusstva and contributed to the Ballets Russes. The tales were recorded by the renowned folklorist Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (1826-1871), who collected and published more than 600 Russian folk tales in the middle 19th century.

Vladimir Propp is the Russian folklore specialist most widely known outside Russia thanks to the impact of his 1928 book Morphology of the Folktale-but Morphology is only the first of Propp's contributions to scholarship. This volume translates into English for the first time his book The Russian Folktale, which was based on a seminar on Russian folktales that Propp taught at Leningrad State University late in his life. Edited and translated by Sibelan Forrester, this English edition contains Propp's own text and is supplemented by notes from his students. The Russian Folktale begins with Propp's description of the folktale's aesthetic qualities and the history of the term; the history of folklore studies, first in Western Europe and then in Russia and the USSR; and the place of the folktale in the matrix of folk culture and folk oral creativity. The book presents Propp's key insight into the formulaic structure of Russian wonder tales (and less schematically than in Morphology, though in abbreviated form), and it devotes one chapter to each of the main types of Russian folktales: the wonder tale, the "novellistic" or everyday tale, the animal tale, and the cumulative tale. Even Propp's bibliography, included here, gives useful insight into the sources accessible to and used by Soviet scholars in the third quarter of the twentieth century. Propp's scholarly authority and his human warmth both emerge from this well-balanced and carefully structured series of lectures. An accessible introduction to the Russian folktale, it will serve readers interested in folklore and fairy-tale studies in addition to Russian history and cultural studies.

A famous Russian fairy tale about the evil wizard Koschei, beautiful Maria Morevna, and brave tsarevich Alexis. The illustrations included in this edition were created in the early 20th century by the renowned Russian illustrator and stage designer Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin.

Do you have something that someone special once gave you that seems to offer you strength and protection when you need it the most? In 'Vasilisa the Beautiful', the young girl, Vasilisa, was given a special doll on her mother's deathbed. Let's find out more about this story...'Vasilisa the Beautiful' is a Russian fairytale that features a young girl named Vasilisa and one of the most infamous characters in Russian folklore, Baba Yaga. In this story, the eponymous heroine is pitted against Baba Yaga.Vasilisa the Beautiful is in a collection of Russian folktales known as Russian Fairy Tales or Russian Folk Tales . The stories in this collection were compiled during the 19th century by Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev, who has been considered the Russian equivalent of the Grimm Brothers.Translated by Elle Brown

Notable for their magnificent, jewel-like color illustrations by Bilibin, these traditional tales include "The Frog Princess," "Vassilissa the Beautiful," and "The White Duck." Though Russian Fairy Tales in the Pantheon Folklore Library is a book for adults, it has sold over 30,000 copies.

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876 -1942) was a 20th-century illustrator and stage designer who took part in the Mir iskusstva and contributed to the Ballets Russes. Throughout his career, he was inspired by Slavic folklore.Ivan Bilibin was born in a suburb of St. Petersburg. He studied in 1898 at Anton Azbe Art School in Munich, then under Ilya Repin in St. Petersburg. In 1902-1904 Bilibin travelled in the Russian North, where he became fascinated with old wooden architecture and Russian folklore. He published his findings in the monograph Folk Arts of the Russian North in 1904. Another influence on his art was traditional Japanese prints.Bilibin gained renown in 1899, when he released his illustrations of Russian fairy tales. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he drew revolutionary cartoons. He was the designer for the 1909 première production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel. The October Revolution, however, proved alien to him. After brief stints in Cairo and Alexandria, he settled in Paris in 1925. There he took to decorating private mansions and Orthodox churches. He still longed for his homeland and, after decorating the Soviet Embassy in 1936, he returned to Soviet Russia. He delivered lectures in the Soviet Academy of Arts until 1941. Bilibin died during the Siege of Leningrad and was buried in a collective grave.