Product Description

Since he illustrated the "Faeries" in 1978, Brian Froud has been fascinated by faery lore. Now, 20 years later, this book describes and illustrates the faery folk who still crowd his imagination.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88320 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Brian Froud is an artist with a flair for subtly coloured fantasy. Here he revisits the ethereal territory of his art books Faeries (with Alan Lee) and the comic- gruesome Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (with Terry Jones)--the latter a Hugo award winner. Froud has a whole philosophy of faeries and their reality which some readers may find a bit woozily "New Age", though traditional lore and Jungian archetypes are also discussed. Symbolising his sense that "good" and "bad" can shift with viewpoint, this large-format volume consists of Good Faeries and Bad Faeries bound back to back, each upside down relative to the other. The fine artwork offers more variety than you might expect from this subject: traditional faeries, grotesques and comic figures (in both sections), horrors, abstract energy patterns, and crowded, symbolic scenes reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch or Richard Dadd. Just as in Paradise Lost, the bad guys can be more fun--from their hauntingly imagined Queen, through nasties like the Bigot Bogey and spirits of various dark emotions, to such familiar metaphorical nuisances as the Computer Glitch, Small Pang of Regret and Bad Hair Day Faery. Crammed with Froud's full-colour paintings, this is an attractive gift book. --David Langford

Customer Reviews

A beautiful introduction to some very real faeries!
Faeries have always had a special place in my heart. I grew up with Cicely Barker's Flower Fairies, had my own faery name and even a faery "language" (of sorts), and the inevitable floaty dress with silver shoes and a sparkly wand. I've always been aware of flickers of energy in the edges of my vision in the bluebell woods, and the feeling of being watched amongst the New Forest oaks. For a while I wrote this off as an over-active imagination; but after a recent excursion deep into Faeryland, and the discovery that several of my friends have faery-like qualities, I decided that it was about time I had a "grown-up" faery book to help me understand more about the hidden world of Faery.

Brian Froud's "Good Faeries - Bad Faeries" stood out a mile on the shelf in my local bookshop. The book first fell open to show me Helpful Hob, which immediately made me laugh: just such a faery had been a little over-enthusiastic with my husband's bread-making the previous night, and the beautiful illustration seemed to capture the essence of this flour-throwing, milk-spilling creature. When I eventually got home I spent the rest of the evening gazing at the beautiful pictures - some funny, some grotesque, some peaceful, but all with an incredible vibrancy to them, as if they really have caught a little piece of a faery on paper. Even the rough sketches that skip and tumble around the text are gleaming with magical light.

I had half-expected the text at the beginning of the book (both of the beginnings; there are two, but no end) to be either heavy on folklore or sickly sweet, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is intelligently written, highly personal, and with a quirky humour that can only come from the faery influence itself. Froud's discussion of folklore is brief but informative, and the philosophical sections left me nodding my head with a faint smile rather than totally bewildered, as is so often the case. I was particularly impressed by the author's knack for explaining the paradoxes of Faery without really explaining them at all, and was left with a strong sense of how it all worked, although I couldn't describe a word of it if I was asked!

What struck me about the book more than anything else was that these faeries are very, very real. Computer Glitch, for example, wreaked havoc whilst I was writing my Master's thesis - juggling text on the page when I wasn't looking, reconfiguring huge chunks of data, and making the screen flicker pink just because he thought it was funny. A friend of mine has a small faery which follows him around and places objects just where he is about to tread - cups of tea, ash trays and Chinese take-outs regularly go flying across the room thanks to this mischievous creature. Many of the faeries are instantly recognisable; and I found the book so inspiring that I have since discovered many more (like the Duvet Thief, who lives under our bed and yanks the duvet onto the floor in the middle of the night. I presume this is because he is cold, because the chillier the weather, the more the duvet disappears. I am planning on making him a blanket of his own so that he no longer needs steal ours).

Overall, I have found Froud's book a joy to look at and a delight to read. The text and the pictures are each beautiful enough to be worth having on their own; together they are amusing, inspiring, and thought-provoking all at once. I would recommend the book to anyone who has even a flicker of belief in the Faery realm. After reading it you will probably find that the flicker has grown, your tea has gone cold, and that someone has spirited away that biscuit you forgot to eat because you were so absorbed.

Capturing Hearts, the Faery way!
I walked into a bookshop, looking for a birthday present for my Angel loving friend, I came out with Good Faeries/Bad Faeries. I've always had an inkling of belief in Faeires, joking about with my boyfriend of how they 'bite' him, 'sneeze' on him and other little tricks.

After glancing through Froud's work I was captured, I found myself organising the Faeries into my own categories, looking deeply into the pictures, I thought it would probably be a good idea to read it, and to my amazement Froud's interpretations of the Faeries which have come into his life were very similar to my own. This drew me into the Faery charm and my belief and love for Faeries has become stronger.

After reading this brilliant never ending album of Faeries, I added many more of Froud's titles to my bookshelves and have loved looking through and reading every single one!

If you have just that tiny bit of belief or if you are just wondering about Faeries and what is said about them, this book is certainly worth a chance!

The greatest fairy book out.
I read this book at a friends and it was great. it has both good and bad faires and their storys. i think this book really helps one get in touch with the faire world and all the aspects of good/bad because people tend to think all faires are just cute and winged ones. Frouds book lets us see both sides of the faire relm. it is wonderful and the pictures are just the best.