Author:Oscar Wilde
The five original fairy tales included in this volume were first published by Davis Nutt in 1888. Although it is said that Wilde wrote them for his two young sons, the author himself claimed they were '. . . . not for children, but for childlike people from eighteen to eighty'. Since then the stories have been constantly reprinted and, despite the author's disclaimer, children have made the tales their own, a particular favourite being 'The Selfish Giant' - the highly moral story of the giant who banished children from his garden, so that spring never came. Charles Robinson, who produced the illustrations for a special edition first published in 1913, brought to the book a feeliong for its innate sadness that exactly fits the poetry of Wilde's text.
In many ways Peter Duck is the best of the series.
—— GuardianSo well written that you don't realize that it is written at all. The adventures just seem to occur to oneself.
—— Hugh Walpole, ObserverThis is the real stuff of imagination which might so easily happen. . . all the details are true to life, the ship is a real ship, with all its sails and rigging made familiar, and the voyage which those happy children make to southern seas and coral islands is the beautiful possibility of daring and freedom become living and credible.
—— ListenerHe's funny, clever, nimble and moving. Above all, his poetic generosity refuses to consider serious subjects as out of bounds just because he's writing for a young audience.
—— Evening Standard