The Lilac Fairy Book is a collection of fairy tales compiled by Andrew Lang. The book is part of a series of fairy tale collections by Lang, which includes The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book, and many others. The Lilac Fairy Book contains 33 fairy tales from around the world, including stories from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The tales are drawn from a variety of sources, including folklore, mythology, and literature. The stories are retold in Lang's signature style, which combines a respect for the original sources with a modern sensibility that is accessible to contemporary readers. The tales in The Lilac Fairy Book feature a variety of themes, including love, adventure, and magic. Many of the stories feature brave and resourceful heroes who must overcome challenges and obstacles to achieve their goals.
Andrew Lang was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to anthropology who lived from 31 March 1844 to 20 July 1912. He is primarily known for being a folklore and fairy story collector. At the University of St. Andrews, he is honored through the Andrew Lang lectures. In the Scottish Borders town of Selkirk, Lang was born in 1844. He was the oldest of the eight children born to John Lang, the town clerk of Selkirk, and Jane Plenderleath Sellar, who was a relative of the first Duke of Sutherland. Jane Plenderleath Sellar was the daughter of Patrick Sellar. He wed Leonora Blanche Alleyne, the youngest child of C. T. Alleyne of Clifton and Barbados, on April 17, 1875. She was alternately acknowledged as the author, co-author, or translator of Lang's Color/Rainbow Fairy Books, which he edited (or should have been). He attended the Edinburgh Academy, Loretto School, Selkirk Grammar School, and University of St. Andrews as well as Balliol College in Oxford, where he earned a first-class degree in the final classical schools in 1868. From there, he went on to become a fellow and later an honorary fellow of Merton College. As a journalist, poet, critic, and historian, he quickly established himself as one of the best and most diverse writers of his day.
