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Aesop's Fables Illustrated
This illustrated collection includes hundreds of fables that have influenced our world for centuries.
The stories attributed to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in Greece around 620–564 BCE, were originally passed on through oral tradition before first being transcribed several centuries after his death. Many of these fables use animals as the main characters to convey deeper meanings and morals that have become ingrained in our cultural and personal belief systems. This elegant leather-bound volume includes 487 fables, along with more than 100 illustrations by celebrated artists Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane. A scholarly introduction examines Aesop’s life and the oral tradition, providing readers with further insight into the world of the humble storyteller whose presence continues to touch us today.
The stories attributed to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in Greece around 620–564 BCE, were originally passed on through oral tradition before first being transcribed several centuries after his death. Many of these fables use animals as the main characters to convey deeper meanings and morals that have become ingrained in our cultural and personal belief systems. This elegant leather-bound volume includes 487 fables, along with more than 100 illustrations by celebrated artists Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane. A scholarly introduction examines Aesop’s life and the oral tradition, providing readers with further insight into the world of the humble storyteller whose presence continues to touch us today.
432 pages, Leather Bound
Published September 23, 2025
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162 people want to read
About the author
Aesop
2,466 books1,102 followers620 BC - 564 BC
Tradition considers Greek fabulist Aesop as the author of Aesop's Fables , including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Fox and the Grapes."
This credited ancient man told numerous now collectively known stories. None of his writings, if they ever existed, survive; despite his uncertain existence, people gathered and credited numerous tales across the centuries in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Generally human characteristics of animals and inanimate objects that speak and solve problems characterize many of the tales.
One can find scattered details of his life in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work, called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave (δοῦλος), whose cleverness acquires him freedom as an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name included Esop(e) and Isope. A later tradition, dating from the Middle Ages, depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian. Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last two and a half millennia included several works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays, and television programs.
Abandoning the perennial image of Aesop as an ugly slave, the movie Night in Paradise (1946) cast Turhan Bey in the role, depicting Aesop as an advisor to Croesus, king; Aesop falls in love with a Persian princess, the intended bride of the king, whom Merle Oberon plays. Lamont Johnson also plays Aesop the Helene Hanff teleplay Aesop and Rhodope (1953), broadcast on hallmark hall of fame.
Brazilian dramatist Guilherme Figueiredo published A raposa e as uvas ("The Fox and the Grapes"), a play in three acts about the life of Aesop, in 1953; in many countries, people performed this play, including a videotaped production in China in 2000 under the title Hu li yu pu tao or 狐狸与葡萄 .
Beginning in 1959, animated shorts under the title Aesop and Son recurred as a segment in the television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, its successor. People abandoned the image of Aesop as ugly slave; Charles Ruggles voiced Aesop, a Greek citizen, who recounted for the edification of his son, Aesop Jr., who then delivered the moral in the form of an atrocious pun. In 1998, Robert Keeshan voiced him, who amounted to little more than a cameo in the episode "Hercules and the Kids" in the animated television series Hercules.
In 1971, Bill Cosby played him in the television production Aesop's Fables.
British playwright Peter Terson first produced the musical Aesop's Fables in 1983. In 2010, Mhlekahi Mosiea as Aesop staged the play at the Fugard theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.
Tradition considers Greek fabulist Aesop as the author of Aesop's Fables , including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Fox and the Grapes."
This credited ancient man told numerous now collectively known stories. None of his writings, if they ever existed, survive; despite his uncertain existence, people gathered and credited numerous tales across the centuries in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Generally human characteristics of animals and inanimate objects that speak and solve problems characterize many of the tales.
One can find scattered details of his life in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work, called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave (δοῦλος), whose cleverness acquires him freedom as an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name included Esop(e) and Isope. A later tradition, dating from the Middle Ages, depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian. Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last two and a half millennia included several works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays, and television programs.
Abandoning the perennial image of Aesop as an ugly slave, the movie Night in Paradise (1946) cast Turhan Bey in the role, depicting Aesop as an advisor to Croesus, king; Aesop falls in love with a Persian princess, the intended bride of the king, whom Merle Oberon plays. Lamont Johnson also plays Aesop the Helene Hanff teleplay Aesop and Rhodope (1953), broadcast on hallmark hall of fame.
Brazilian dramatist Guilherme Figueiredo published A raposa e as uvas ("The Fox and the Grapes"), a play in three acts about the life of Aesop, in 1953; in many countries, people performed this play, including a videotaped production in China in 2000 under the title Hu li yu pu tao or 狐狸与葡萄 .
Beginning in 1959, animated shorts under the title Aesop and Son recurred as a segment in the television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, its successor. People abandoned the image of Aesop as ugly slave; Charles Ruggles voiced Aesop, a Greek citizen, who recounted for the edification of his son, Aesop Jr., who then delivered the moral in the form of an atrocious pun. In 1998, Robert Keeshan voiced him, who amounted to little more than a cameo in the episode "Hercules and the Kids" in the animated television series Hercules.
In 1971, Bill Cosby played him in the television production Aesop's Fables.
British playwright Peter Terson first produced the musical Aesop's Fables in 1983. In 2010, Mhlekahi Mosiea as Aesop staged the play at the Fugard theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 12, 2024
I received a copy of this book for free for promotional purposes.
This was such a lovely collection of fables! I loved so many of them that I started writing down the ones I liked, but had to stop because there were way too many. By the time I stopped, the list was at 60 (for reference there are 487 fables and I stopped my list around the 250 mark).
I enjoyed the fables and the morals/lessons they displayed. Many of them resonated with me and made me stop and think. There were some repeat fables (the same story with the same characters and morals just written slightly different), but as a whole it was an expansive collection.
I also enjoyed the introduction that gave some background into the fables, where they came from, and who Aesop was.
Additionally, this edition is absolutely stunning. It’s leather bound with gold edges and a ribbon bookmark. It also has illustrations, which I also liked. They were so cute!
Overall, I’m really glad I finally read this!
This was such a lovely collection of fables! I loved so many of them that I started writing down the ones I liked, but had to stop because there were way too many. By the time I stopped, the list was at 60 (for reference there are 487 fables and I stopped my list around the 250 mark).
I enjoyed the fables and the morals/lessons they displayed. Many of them resonated with me and made me stop and think. There were some repeat fables (the same story with the same characters and morals just written slightly different), but as a whole it was an expansive collection.
I also enjoyed the introduction that gave some background into the fables, where they came from, and who Aesop was.
Additionally, this edition is absolutely stunning. It’s leather bound with gold edges and a ribbon bookmark. It also has illustrations, which I also liked. They were so cute!
Overall, I’m really glad I finally read this!
October 2, 2025
A pretty interesting read where the fables vary in quality but total almost 500 tales. Some are great as they are, some are shorter than a post on Twitter. Some hit home, some are half baked. But I read fables that CONSISTENTLY made me uncomfortable with how relatable and applicable they are with the current state of affairs. I'll file this under books that inspire me to work on future projects. Illustrations were lovely but rarely blew me away. Still, it's a book that offers plenty of food for thought even if it doesn't blow you away. And that most of the fables finish with a saying helps some hit home while others you can't help but feel a disconnect.
March 23, 2025
The introduction was very interesting, and the book itself is quite handsome. Unfortunately, lots of individual fables are repeated, some more than once. There are perhaps five or ten really solid, good fables that stood out to me.
March 7, 2024
Cé go bhfuil clúdach álainn agus saothar ealaíne iontach san leabhar seo, tá roinnt fadhbanna ann. An chéad fhadhb atá ann ná go bhfuil roinnt de na fables á athdhéanamh sa leabhar. An dara fhadhb atá ann ná go bhfuil abairt amháin ag deireadh roinnt de na fables a mhíneoidh an chiall, ach níl abairt ag deireadh gach fable le cur síos orthu. Tá easpa inmharthana iomlán sa leabhar seo, rud atá an t-ádh, mar níl an méid álainn atá ar chlúdach an leabhair ag teacht le héifeacht na gcruthaithe istigh ann. Tá easpa cothromaíochta go mór sa leabhar seo, rud a chuireann an-bhrón orm agus ar na léitheoirí. Ní chomhlíonann ábhar an leabhair an tsáirsint a bhaineann le hardán an chlúdach.
March 2, 2024
Beautifully illustrated and a wonderful edition of Aesop's Fables. Not all of them have moral to the story and some feel too modern to be attributed to Aesop but none the less I enjoyed the edition.
March 4, 2024
Fables and good ones to.👍
October 1, 2024
Beautiful book and illustrations, even if some of them feel out of date in today's society.
May 29, 2025
This was a good book but there were a handful of the same fables only a few pages apart.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews