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Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully illustrated mythology
Review: This book is one in Time Life Books' The Enchanted World series. Each of these books covers a different aspect of folklore and mythology, and they are an excellent set. They tell stories in a similar format and complement each other well without repeating the content. Each is about 140 pages.
This is a beautifully illustrated well printed volume. Artists include James C Christensen, John Jude Palencar, Kinyuko Y Craft and Alicia Austin. Older depictions of wizards and witches are mixed in for history. These include work by Arthur Rackham, John Waterhouse, Gallen-Kallela, Sidney Lanier, Mel Odom, M L Breton, Harry Clarke, Ivan Bilibin and Judy King-Rieniets.
Stories are retold in a style that makes for a good read. These stories come from all over the world. Often there will be smaller illustrations and captions in the margins to the main story. These tell variations of the story and related stories from other cultures.
This is a beautifully bound and printed book. The binding is just cloth to collectors, but it is printed to look like a wizard's book. The cover shows a dragon holding a picture of a wizard complete with staff and crystal ball. I think it was the cover that got me reading this when I was child (this would be for older children because of the spooky nature).
Chapters include:
Singers at the World's Dawn: The Welsh Enchanter's Fosterling
Masters of the Forbidden Arts: Tidings of the Heavens
The Shadowy Sisterhood: Haunter of the birch forest
This is a well researched nicely produced series. For me one book in the series (I think it was Fairies and Elves) had me hooked. If you are interested in mythology and all things magic then it is definitely worth trying out the series. High school and middle school libraries should consider the series. Some books might cause issues since they are about the occult, but some like The Legend of Camelot book will be completely Kosher.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully designed, illustrated, and written
Review: This book was originally part of the Time-Life "The Enchanted World" series, but it is a work of art all by itself. This is a large, handsome volume with a blood red cloth cover, gold lettering, and a pasted-in insert of a classical wizard image. It even has marbled endpapers!The text and illustrations are also of top quality. It held my interest, and I have a library of books on simular subjects. The tome is divided into three sections: Singers at the World's Dawn (dealing with the great archtypal wizards such as Vainamoinen, Taliesin, Volga Vseslavich, Manannan Mac Lir, and Merlin); Masters of the Forbidden Arts (Roger Bacon, Nostradamus, Faustus); and The Shadowy Sisterhood (a brief history of witchcraft, black and white.) There are even sections on supernatural creatures, astrology, and the tarot. This is really a beautifully designed, written and illustrated book. It looks great on display- and would make a fine gift for those interested in the history of Wizardry.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful volume on the history of Wizardry
Review: This is really a beautiful, well-designed book. The cover is blood red with gold lettering- with a insert of a classical wizard. The full color illustrations from a variety of artists and sources are especially fine. This volume even has marbled end papers! In my opinion it would make a marvelous gift for anyone, young or old, with an interest in the legends of wizards and of magic. It certainly held my interest. The first part of the book (Singers at the World's Dawn) deals with the greatest of the archetypal wizards from the dawn of time: Vainamoinen, Math, Manannan, Taliesin, Merlin, Volga Vseslavich, etc. The second part (Masters of the Forbidden Arts) deals with more recent historical practioners: Roger Bacon, Nostadamus, Faust, Albertus Magnus, Michael Scot, Etc. The third part (The Shadowy Sisterhood) is a general and mostly anonomous history of witchcraft- black and white. There are even introductory sections on the tarot, astronomy, and magical creatures included.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book
Review: This is truly a magnificent volume, the illustrations are like medieval illumination, they jump off the page like jewels. It's not really a history book, there isn't really any history involved. Instead, its a collection of folklore, mostly from northern Europe and the British Isles. If you're looking for a history of wizardry and witchcraft, try something else. But if you're interested in the stories our ancestors told around the hearth, this is the book.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book
Review: This is truly a magnificent volume, the illustrations are like medieval illumination, they jump off the page like jewels. It's not really a history book, there isn't really any history involved. Instead, its a collection of folklore, mostly from northern Europe and the British Isles. If you're looking for a history of wizardry and witchcraft, try something else. But if you're interested in the stories our ancestors told around the hearth, this is the book.
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