The Great Encyclopedia of Faeries

by Pierre Dubois, Claudine Sabatier (Illustrator), Roland Sabatier (Illustrator)

A folio size encyclopedia of fairy lore and legend. Illustrated in color throughout.

Genres: Fantasy, Art, Reference, Fairies, Fae, Mythology, Fairy Tales

184 pages, Hardcover

First published November 9, 1996

About the author

Pierre Dubois est né en 1945 à Charleville, dans les Ardennes. D'une enfance passée dans les livres et sur les sentiers forestiers, il retire un amour du merveilleux qui ne le quittera jamais, au point de devoir se créer son propre métier: elficologue. Patiemment, de récits en livres oubliés, il accumule un savoir que, tels ces druides des temps jadis, il n'a de cesse de transmettre. Scénariste de téléfilms et conteur pour France 3 Bretagne, il est également auteur de romans et d'encyclopédies fantastiques ("La Grande Encyclopédie des Lutins", celle des "Fées" et enfin celle des "Elfes", ainsi que "Le dictionnaire de la féérie") qui compilent ses connaissances pléthoriques. Passionné par l'image, il a également beaucoup oeuvré dans la bande dessinée: "Laïyna" avec Hausman, "Lutins et Red Caps" avec Stéphane Duval, "Le Torte" et "Saskia des Vagues" avec Rollin, "Petrus Barbygère" avec Sfar. Une oeuvre aussi fournie que sa barbe qui a vu également fleurir "La Légende du Changeling" réalisée avec Xavier Fourquemin pour Le Lombard, ou encore "Capitaine Trèfle" où il retrouve René Hausman.

Reviews

[Markham Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Freddy Krueger getting a paragraph was the last straw for me (page 45). This is a lousy book. It is one of those pathological fantasy "authorities" which redefines its subject to include many, many things which don't belong (e.g. deities and Asian monsters).


The cover art is beautiful, but don't expect the drawings within the book to measure up. (Some do; most don't. It's fair but falls short of enchanting.)

Lots of exposed breasts. How did the publishers think they could get away with putting racy content in a book that already had so many shortcomings (some of which I describe below)?

The writer makes an occasional citation, but their placement seems arbitrary. Why would he want support for detail X and not countless others? I have the feeling while reading that I couldn't trust them very far, and the citations did nothing to put me at ease.

The descriptions seem always to be lacking. There is never enough depth to get any sort of feeling, and there is only rarely any snatch of any story to illustrate the creature. No real history or origin story is offered. The paucity of depth notwithstanding, the author appears (to me) to expect the reader to come with an understanding of the difference between kobolds, hobgoblins, etc. Is this supposed to be an introductory or an advanced material?

The writer runs roughshod over the traditions of some regions to promulgate his own chosen mythos. For some creatures, the writer fails to indicate the country or region to region retains or from which it originates. For others, he asserts a false history of his own making to indicate that the creature once lived in country A better move to country B because people A drove it away. (Inauthentic)

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly disappointed. Not great and really not an encyclopedia. More like an author retelling a mis mash of stories. At least half of the tales you cannot even tell what area of the world the legends are supposed to be from. Mostly, it is a collection of tales with whichever type of fey as one of the characters. But there are really bad errors. How do you screw up Morgan le Fey? Cecily Mary Barker created the Flower Fairies and, no, she did not create them based on fairy lore. She created them based on flower lore and they each are for specific flowers and the lore of that flower. Red Riding Hood as well as Hansel and Gretel did not go off deliberately into the forest to hunt for the mysteries of the fairies. I have read books from the 1800's that were some of the first written accounts of those stories and , while they may have differences than the cleaned up, watered down versions we have today, there was nothing on purpose by the children in Hansel and Gretel about getting lost in the forest. Having read books on folklore and fairylore for most of my life these are based so loosely on some tales that the only connection you find is the sharing of a name. I was really disappointed as the write up I had read made it sound like a real encyclopedia where I could learn which lore was from what country, etc. More scholarly as it were instead of another fairy tale book.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a thorough, beautifully illustrated book.

[Karena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!!!!

[Beatrice]

Honestly, it amazes my that my parents let me at this one as a yoot, though demonstrably I took no harm from it. A Daedalus acquisition, I wager.

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

a relict from my childhood: terrifying, whimsical, and utterly magical.

[DoomFist7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is so original.

[Mathieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une mine d'or d'émerveillement, de poésie et d'humour. Si vous voulez tout savoir sur les dryades, les sidhe, les fées Morgane, les dames rouges, les dames blanches, les fuath, les babouchka, les tempestaires, les Tante Arie & autres Wilda Berchta, etc., etc. précipitez-vous! Notre elficologue national nous rappelle à quel point notre folklore est riche. Je ne m'en lasse jamais. Périodiquement, j'y retourne, me perd dans ses pages, feuillette, rêvasse, aidé par les merveilleuses illustrations. Un enchantement qui m'est indispensable.

[treelady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. I bought this book when I was young, thinking it was Brian Froud's Good Faeries/Bad Faeries.

Full of janky art, huge exposed breasts, appropriated deities and art. An image of a prehistoric Venus figure is used to illustrate some sort of female rape demon. It's honestly extremely offensive.

Another story was illustrated by a drawing of dying deer with blood coming from its mouth/nose, hanging upside-down. Did I mention the deer has human hair? And breasts? It's disturbing. Did I mention how many naked breasts are in this book?

This book is a ripoff of Good Faeries/Bad Faeries. Don't waste your money on this one, go get the original. I looked this one up just because I remembered how disappointing it was and wanted to warn other people. I spent good money on this book, it wasn't freaking cheap.

[David Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful and inspiring books every produced in my humble yet pretentious opinion.

The illustrations are fantastic for children and adults alike but the amount of detail brought forth and new denizens of fairy land to discover (along with the respect given to the stories told) really make this stand out from other folklore encyclopaedias.

I would advise anyone to gift this book to any young children (or teenagers who have not lost their imagination) in their family.

A treasure trove of folklore and entertainment for the family.

I cannot stress enough how lush this book is.

:)

[Victorhugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world-building i9s unquestionaby well-written.

[IdahoGirl4ever · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like dark faeries you will probably like this book.. It is informative kind of like an encyclopedia.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories of mythological creatures and the illustrations are beautiful.

[Spencer Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book! Awesome to read if you practice witchcraft.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. Loved not only the story but also the characters. I can’t wait for the second book.

[Meandmy Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good book of fairy lore

[Finn Gecas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good start point for research but not terribly accurate or in-depth. I learned about the existence of a few new things though and had a fun time researching them. Nice writing voice and nice art.

[Sherron Meinert · Rating 5 out of 5]

So looking forward to the sequel!!!

[Adelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, lots of fun mythos!

4/5, I would have liked to know some of the origins of the myths and stories.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is mostly a collection of the faery stories - not fairy tales - from around the world although centered by the mythology and folklore of Europe, there are tales of these mysterious beings from the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Russia, Far East, with even one or two mentions from the Americas and Africa.

Lavishly illustrated by Claudine and Roland Sabatier, it is colorful and bright even with the darkest, most malevolent types. Some have commented on the art not being for the young reader and I might agree as the artists do not hesitate creating images of near naked individuals (or with gauzy drapery). Readers need to keep in mind that these are not relatives of Disney's Tinker-Bell™ and friends nor the Victorian version of the Brothers Grimm tales. These faeries can be benevolent or vengeful. Their ideas seem quite different from the culture and traditions of humanity.

Dubois has separated them basically by the elements they inhabit - the rivers and sea, the vast sky, the forests, the arctic mountains. Some faeries have been taken over by other myths - the vampires, the kobolds, the dryads and naiads.

For those looking for a bedtime story, it's not here. For someone looking for folklore and mythology that may be a bit more in depth or even 'exotic', there may be one or two pieces that can enlighten the reader about the faeries that were once a dark part of man's existence.

2022-250

[Nomad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the art in this book could have been better. It had a nice weight to it and the text was very good, but... I felt the artwork was too drivitive of earlier, Victorian style paintings of fairies. There is a fine line between being inspired by the work of earlier artists and copying and I feel that Dubois really walks it and sometimes falls over and into the side of the copiest.

On the otherhand, the art historian in me may perhaps be being a bit too picky. So I would have to say that perhaps my review on this is rather biased. Maybe it needs a reader not so immersed in art history as I am to fully appreciate it on it's own merits.

[Canvas · Rating 5 out of 5]

While initially disappointed in the art style, i quickly became engrossed in Dubois' flowery yet quintessentially fey descriptions. I bought it, reread it when the mood takes me, and gleefully look forward to leaving it in our son's or daughter's bedroom for them to explore. Would make great material for bedtime stories (elaborations)!

[Kim]

For a book calling itself an encyclopedia, this seemed to be short an index or two. And since the table of contents prides itself more on flowery descriptions, like "Old Shut-Eye" or "The Gianes," instead of plainly stated categories, like "The Sandman and Other Sleep Bringers" or "Benevolent Fairies," I found it impossible to find the types of faeries I was interested in reading about.

[Kayleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have checked this out from my library a million times, but I don't think I have ever finished it.

It's not one of the best, but its still ok.

[Mary Mourning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories of mythological creatures and the illustrations are beautiful.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A large and beautiful book, informative and gorgeously illustrated. Everything you ever wanted to know about fairies and their ilk.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seen better, it is a nice kiddy book, but nothing more.

[Hazelle Ann]

Great