Folio Archives 456: The Adventures of the Five Children by E. Nesbit 2009
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The Adventures of the Five Children by E. Nesbit 2009
Written between 1902 and 1906, this is a charming series of three children’s stories under the collective title of The Adventures of the Five Children. The three books – The Five Children and It; The Story of the Amulet and The Phoenix and the Carpet follow each other to some degree, but can be read independently.
The first story involves the children finding “It”, a rather strange form of fairy known as a Psammead that has lived in a hole at the bottom of a gravel pit for millions of years and is able to grant wishes, but they only last until sunset. The children make clever, foolish and accidental wishes that take them on all sorts of wanted and unwanted adventures that would delight an eight year old.
The Story of the Amulet has the wish granting Psammead take the children on time travels to the past in search of a magic amulet. They visit places as varied as ancient Egypt, Atlantis and Babylon, and even bring a Persian Queen back to visit 20th. century Britain.
The Phoenix and the Carpet contains more magic when an old carpet bought by the children is found to contain an egg, which when placed in a fire hatches a phoenix who explains that the carpet is a magic flying one. The children travel the world in search of adventure with the phoenix on the carpet.
The books are lavishly and beautifully illustrated by H. R. Millar with integrated line drawings. Five Children and It (216 pages) has 50 drawings, The Phoenix and the Carpet (264 pages) has 68 drawings and The Story of the Amulet (296 pages) has 70 drawings.
Each volume is quarter bound in red cloth with a cream paper cover printed with a picture in dark brown (each book different) by David Eccles. The endleaves are maroon. They are housed in a red three-volume slipcase titled in gold on the front that measures 21x14.1x8.3cm.
There was an earlier edition in 1994 and a later edition in 2017 that had different bindings and slipcases, but identical contents.
1994 edition
2009 edition
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Written between 1902 and 1906, this is a charming series of three children’s stories under the collective title of The Adventures of the Five Children. The three books – The Five Children and It; The Story of the Amulet and The Phoenix and the Carpet follow each other to some degree, but can be read independently.
The first story involves the children finding “It”, a rather strange form of fairy known as a Psammead that has lived in a hole at the bottom of a gravel pit for millions of years and is able to grant wishes, but they only last until sunset. The children make clever, foolish and accidental wishes that take them on all sorts of wanted and unwanted adventures that would delight an eight year old.
The Story of the Amulet has the wish granting Psammead take the children on time travels to the past in search of a magic amulet. They visit places as varied as ancient Egypt, Atlantis and Babylon, and even bring a Persian Queen back to visit 20th. century Britain.
The Phoenix and the Carpet contains more magic when an old carpet bought by the children is found to contain an egg, which when placed in a fire hatches a phoenix who explains that the carpet is a magic flying one. The children travel the world in search of adventure with the phoenix on the carpet.
The books are lavishly and beautifully illustrated by H. R. Millar with integrated line drawings. Five Children and It (216 pages) has 50 drawings, The Phoenix and the Carpet (264 pages) has 68 drawings and The Story of the Amulet (296 pages) has 70 drawings.
Each volume is quarter bound in red cloth with a cream paper cover printed with a picture in dark brown (each book different) by David Eccles. The endleaves are maroon. They are housed in a red three-volume slipcase titled in gold on the front that measures 21x14.1x8.3cm.
There was an earlier edition in 1994 and a later edition in 2017 that had different bindings and slipcases, but identical contents.
1994 edition
2009 edition
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
