‘thoroughly researched, impartial, scholarly, wonderfully illustrated and enormous fun’, The Independent on Sunday

This online edition was reviewed and selectively updated by the original editor in 2011.

This Companion is the first authoritative reference source for the complex and captivating genre of the fairy tale. It provides full coverage of stories and characters, from Ali Baba, Aladdin, and Cinderella, to Hansel and Gretel, the Moomins, and Tom Thumb, along with the writers who wrote and reworked them, such as Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkein, A. S. Byatt, and Gabriel García Marquez, and the artists who illustrated them, including Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, and Maurice Sendak. The Companion also examines related topics such as Disney, opera, science fiction, music, even advertising. Special survey articles explore the development of the fairy-tale tradition in individual countries, focusing particularly on the European and North American traditions.

Written by a team of 67 specialist contributors from around the world, this is an essential companion for anyone interested in literature, film, or art, or for anyone who values the traditions of storytelling.