For all those who have always shied away from the sheer length of the original Urs Widmer has carefully abridged the wonderful Tales From the Arabian Nights while preserving their oriental flavour. Highly vivid and amusing, he recounts the six most famous tales of the immortal Sheherazade: The Fisherman and the Jinni, Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, The Magic Horse, The Adventures of Haroun-al-Raschid, and Sinbad the Sailor.
As Hermann Hesse pointed out, the original of this great collection of fairytales is »a source of infinite pleasures and the most opulent picture book in the world«. To ensure that this holds true, Tatjana Hauptmann has richly illustrated this work, conveying Oriental lavishness and subtlety.

As Novalis said, »Everything is a fairy tale.« But not all fairy tale anthologies are like The Giant Book of Fairy Tales by Tatjana Hauptmann – a true classic for the entire family, a book of magical beauty. This collection of the 100 best fairy tales from Europe is magnificently adorned with a colourful and enchanting palette of 600 drawings and watercolours.

The artist Tatjana Hauptmann, recipient of many international awards, spent several years working on her meticulous illustrations of ›The Great Book of Legends‹. The Best Medieval Legends of Gods, Heroes and Knights, edited by Johannes Carstensen. The result is two beautiful volumes, the first of which has now been issued. The unique drawings and colour plates breathe life into the world of the Nibelungen, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Tristan and Isolde and many others, and take us to a land of fantasy which it is always a joy to visit.