The Book of Ballads - Hardcover

Vess, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 076531214X ISBN 13: 9780765312143

Publisher: Tor Books, 2004

Synopsis

Illustrated and presented by one of the leading artists in modern fantasy, here are the great songs and folktales of the English, Irish, and Scottish traditions, re-imagined in sequential-art form, in collaboration with some of today's strongest fantasy writers.

Here are New York Times bestseller Neil Gaiman with "The False Knight on the Road"; popular mystery author Sharyn McCrumb's version of "Thomas the Rhymer"; acclaimed children's writer Jane Yolen with "King Henry" and "The Great Selchie of Sule Skerrie"; popular novelist Charles de Lint's contemporary reworking of "Twa Corbies"; Bone creator Jeff Smith with "The Galtee Farmer"; Emma Bull's version of "The Black Fox," and much, much more.

Introduced by award-winning editor and writer Terri Windling, and finished with full lyrics and discographies of the classic versions of these songs and tales, The Book of Ballads is an event in the worlds of fantasy and graphic storytelling alike.

About this title

About the Author:

As an illustrator and as a collaborator, Charles Vess has worked with Neil Gaiman, with whom he shared a World Fantasy Award for the "Midsummer Night's Dream" issue of Sandman; with Charles de Lint on children's books and illustrated novels; and with Jeff Smith on the Bone prequel Rose. Vess has won the World Fantasy Award twice. His Ballads series won him the comic-book industry's prestigious Eisner award. He is currently illustrating a special limited edition of George R. R. Martin's bestselling A Storm of Swords.

From Publishers Weekly:

Ballads were little known to the literate world until the 18th century, when scholars began writing them down. Since then, they've received attention from folklorists, folksingers and, now, cartoonist Vess (Stardust; Rose). Vess and his collaborators put a little meat on the ballads' often bare-bones stories, adding fantastic elements not in the originals ("Barbara Allen"), giving them modern settings ("Twa Corbies"), sexing them up ("Savoy") and otherwise putting their own mark on them. Vess approaches them with an appropriately elegant style. His exquisitely detailed art delightfully recalls the Pre-Raphaelites here, Aubrey Beardsley there and elsewhere Winsor McCay or Gustave Doré. The best stories involve passion, whether celebrated ("King Henry" and "Savoy") or cautioned against ("The Demon Lover" and "The Three Lovers"), though even the least effective stories are still beautiful. "The Three Lovers" is especially noteworthy; in it, Vess makes clever, subversive use of comics language, presenting a story that pretends to be a play (complete with proscenium arch). "Tam Lin" may be the collection's consummate piece. In it, Vess goes for straight illustration, with each illustrated page facing a page of verse. Here Vess reaches the peak of his art, standing proudly with the 19th- and early 20th-century illustrators who influence him.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 076531214X
• ISBN 13: 9780765312143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192