7 Volume set of Andrew Lang's Fairy Books by Andrew Lang, Henry J. Ford - 1898-01-01

London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1898-01-01. Hardcover. Very Good. 0x0x0. 7 Volumes. Bound in publisher's original cloth. AEG. Gilt embossed pictorial covers to each volume. Good bindings and covers. Wear to extremities. Sunning to spines. Chipping and loss to head and tail of spine. Clean, unmarked pages with minimal tanning. Some volumes have gift inscription to Rufus Rand. Olive Fairy book has inscription to fep and some contemporary hand coloring of engravings. <br><br> Contents of this set: Red Fairy Book: 1898, 6th Imp.; Green Fairy Book: 1899, 5th Imp.; Pink Fairy Book: 1901, 3rd Imp.; Grey Fairy Book: 1901, 2nd Imp.; Violet Fairy Book: 1901, 1st Edition; Blue Fairy Book: 1901; 9th Imp.; Olive Fairy Book: 1907, 1st Edition. <br> Andrew Lang was a prolific Scottish scholar, folklorist, anthropologist, historian, and classic children's author. He is best known for his popular 12 volume fairy books. His work, "represents the first maturing of a scientific interest in the folk narrative as a means of discovering the nature of primeval man and the details of his unrecorded history. "The student of this lore," he wrote, "can look back and see the long trodden way behind him, the winding tracks through marsh and forest and ever burning sands" (Green 1946, p. 37). His contention that the myth is a "historical" document, useful for the revelation of a cultural or value system, became so generally accepted as an assumption in anthropology that his originality is often forgotten." - Jacob W. Gruber, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2008. Tolkein states: 'None rival either the popularity, or the inclusiveness, or the general merits of the twelve books of twelve colours which we owe to Andrew Lang and to his wife' - J. R. R. Tolkein <br><br> Provenance: Rufus R. Rand, a World War I aviator, who flew with who the Lafayette Flying Corps during the war, was part of the family that owned the Minneapolis Gas Company. The Rand Tower in Minneapolis was built for him and his company in 1929.