The True Story Book

The True Story Book

The True Story Book catches the eye with the gilded pages upon a deep royal blue hardcover. Andrew Lang is a poet, novelist, literary critic, and patron to the field of anthropology. The True Story Book is a fiction and folklore novel, a product of his precise expertise. Introducing an elaborate illustration on the cover and extending through to the illustrations within the first few pages, it’s impossible for questions not to arise within the mind. Fairytales and folklore may appear as unsettling genres for some, but Andrew Lang has the knack on such peculiar subject matter, it captures the aura and generates it as relatable as possible. It cannot be denied that true stories are no so good as fairytales. Not always with a happy ending, Lang vows his goal isn’t to teach but to transport the mind to a different ambiance, an ambiance that devours traditional viewpoints. The cover illustration encompasses an ocean at night, the moon shining high above reflecting upon the water. A ship is approaching a man on the shore, holding a hat in one hand, a sword in the other. What is beyond the title, "The True Story Book?", What posses Andrew Lang to write such daring novels? Can a “true story” be considered folklore?

Andrew Lang

Fales Collection, Manhattan College

London: Longmans, Green and Co and New York

1893

Illustrators: L. Bogle, Lucien Davis, H.J. Ford, C.H.M. Kerr and Lancelot Speed

O'Malley Library, Manhattan College

Octavo

Fiction, Folklore