The magic carpet and other tales Book

Enchanting retellings of classic fairytales, Ellen Douglas gives light to a new generation of readers who haven't discovered them, or are too young to read the original. From Ovid to the Brothers Grimm and Scheherazade's tales told through the One Thousand and One Nights, this selection was based on the illustrations of Walter Anderson. Normally the tales are told first, and the illustrations follow, but here Douglas gives voice to the imagination of the Mississippi artist Walter Anderson. The pictures are the best part of the book--not to slight Ms. Douglas--and Anderson's style is at once mythic and intimate, present and timeless. Above all, he showed the archetypes of the imagination. All of the original illustrations are linoleum block prints--very large at that--he pressed, normally, on wallpaper. I have had the privilege of seeing many of them in person, and they are reproduced here successfully. There is a link below to see some of Anderson's prints. Click on the individual pictures to see larger images: