Goblins

Product Information

This volume tells the story a Victorian young lady who "presses" fairies between book pages, much as her compatriots pressed and collected flowers. In 1975, Brian moved from London to a small Devon village at Dartmoor's edge, sharing a house with fellow-illustrator Alan Lee and his family. Like Faeries, the films were ground-breaking -- pioneering new puppet design and performance techniques. His latest books are THE HEART OF FAERIE ORACLE, authored by his wife, Wendy and HOW TO SEE FAERIES, with New York Times best-selling author, John Matthews are published by Abrams Books.

After Alan and I published Faeries, he moved on from folklore to illustrate Tolkien and other literary works -- but I discovered that my own exploration of the Faerie Realm had only just begun.

When he left collage, Brian spent five years in London working in the field of commercial illustration, but he continued to paint mythic images and to develop a distinctive style of his own. Brian Froud's illustrations are both mysterious and ethereal, guaranteed to enthral and amuse all who set eyes upon its pages. Berk and Froud's curious experiments and first hand knowledge, this is the single greatest source of information regarding the Goblins' horrible habits, awful art, sticky tricks, bizarre customs, and crude culture (illustrated by Brian Froud). The familiarity of the human form provides a touchstone and a reference; and then as we continue on in our journey around the picture, encountering stranger and stranger imagery, we have confidence that these faeries look just as they're supposed to look. Edward saw Goblins everywhere in the woods, but all Myrtle saw were thorn trees, toads, mounds and a cross-eyed bat.

What, I ask, is the most difficult thing about rendering his vision of the world and its magical spirit in paint? Rackham's goblins, faeries, undines, and tree folk re-awakened Brian's interest in the myths and legends he'd loved in childhood. Lessons include translating and reading runes, skaldic speaking, calendar customs, and safely traversing the nine worlds while avoiding trolls, dragons, and giants! Wendy worked on a number of different Henson projects, making puppets for The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie, and the original prototype for Yoda in Star Wars.I don't like things to be fixed too solidly or explained too fully; I want each viewing to be like a re-telling of a tale, full of new possibilities. It was on the set of The Dark Crystal that Brian met Wendy, who created the "gelflings" and other creatures for the film. Behind the scenes, she was also involved with Brian's publications, sometimes editing or ghost-writing the text. Goblins is a book full of fun and surprises, it is also a book that has been well loved and seen a lot of use; at least my copy has.