Product details
- ISBN 9781800963689
- Dimensions: 193 x 241mm
- Publication Date: 08 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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'When it comes to the world of fairies Katharine Briggs is the greatest authority by many a league, and this is the finest guide ever written.'
PHILIP PULLMAN
'Katharine Briggs's Dictionary is truly wonderful: vivid, witty, and full of a profound and generous knowledge that will thrill both children and adults. Spectacular.'
KATHERINE RUNDELL
'Katharine Briggs is an editor of such surpassing knowledge that one suspects that she may have sources among witches, ghosts and fairies.'
DIANE PURKISS
A new edition of Katharine Briggs's book of folklore creatures, with beautiful, bespoke illustrations by Fee Greening.
Katharine Mary Briggs (1898-1980) was a British folklorist, scholar and author, recognised today as the most important archivist of British folktales. Over the course of her life, she published fourteen books, lectured widely and was president of The Folklore Society. Her books were read and used by contemporaries including J.R.R. Tolkien. To reflect the monumental work Briggs did to collect, catalogue and publish folk stories from Britain and Ireland before the turn of the 21st century, The Folklore Society present an annual award in her honour.
This new edition of one of Briggs' seminal works is an exquisite encyclopedia of folklore creatures and tales, illustrated in rich detail withdrawings by artist Fee Greening. From brownies to Shetland selkies, Cornish spriggans to Nuckelavee (the most horrid of monsters in all of Britain) Briggs's Book of Fairies is a treasury of stories, songs and creatures passed down from one generation to the next.
Contents include:
- Fairy animals
- Good fairies & the seelie court
- Wicked fairies &the unseelie court
- Ghosts & spirits
- People of the sea
'Katharine Briggs is the surest guide to British folklore in the twentieth century.'
JACK ZIPES
'Katharine Briggs is the magic mirror on the wall. Ask her what you will...'
RICHARD ADAMS
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This book is a new edition of Abbey Lubbers, Banshees and Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies, originally published in 1979.
Katharine Mary Briggs (1898-1980) was a British folklorist, scholar and author. Over the course of her life, she published fourteen books, lectured widely and was president of The Folklore Society, who now present an annual award in her honour: The Katharine Briggs Award.
Fee Greening (Illustrator)
Fee Greening is a dip pen and ink illustrator inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts and gothic fairytales. She graduated from Central St. Martin's in 2012 and received a Masters from the Royal College of Art in 2014. She has worked with Gucci, Hermès, Sisley, Liberty London and Fortnum and Mason, and featured in profiles by Vogue and the Financial Times.
