Beautiful illustrations, with a different artist per story, and a fairly decent collection of stories. However, I do think that most of the snippets from novels was a bit jarring, because there was little to no context to the rest of the plot. Huckleberry Finn, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and Lorna Doone made the least amount of sense, whereas the condensed Gulliver's Travels worked splendidly. Of course, all the standalone fairytales and Aesop's Fables were lovely and beautifully drawn. All in all, a mixed bag for a collection. Still recommended for anyone who likes collecting vintage literature.
This book has been on our bookshelf for 30 years. I have been looking for stories to share with our grandchildren and figured this would be a good source. It was not. The artwork is nice, but most of the stores are not real great ones to tell children. I am sure there are many other good books full of stories. This is just not one of them.