Book Review - Fairylore

 Its difficult to find a book on global fairy belief that's solid, especially in the age of AI. I have read much of what's out there that attempts to offer a wide overview of fairies or of specific types of fairy beings, from Bane's 'Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology' to the 'Fairy Bible' and consistently find them to contain glaring errors. It was exciting and refreshing to finally read a book like this that I can actually recommend.

  Fairylore by Dr Sara Cleto and Dr Brittany Warman is an excellent option for anyone looking for a wider view of fairy beliefs that extends beyond the usual suspects. I highly recommend it as a reference and also for some fun reading on the subject. 

image of the cover of Fairylore, taken by me

The book isn't exhaustive but covers a wide range of fairylike beings from around the world, and the information is generally trustworthy. My own focus is Irish, more generally Celtic, and tangentially Norse/Germanic so those are the only entries I feel confident in judging the accuracy of, but I am comfortable assuming that if those are trustworthy then the material outside those areas will be as well. 

Fairylore opens with a foreword by Terri Windling then moves into an introduction by the authors which tackles the daunting task of defining what exactly fairies are, without flinching away from the difficulty around that definition. It covers various theories across folk belief, then segues into discussions of where fairies live, common beliefs around them, and what it is about them that may be so persistent across folk belief. After the introduction the book is divided into 6 chapters, each of which focus on a particular wider type of fairy: fairies of the home, fairies of seduction, fairies of terror, fairies of nature, fairy neighbours, and our fairies ourselves. While alphabetic entries are more common in this type of text the book has a full index which can be used to quickly find a specific entry and the division that is used instead, grouping by wider type, lends itself to cross-cultural comparisons that are very enlightening. The conclusion chapter summarizes many of the wider points in the text and offers insight into fairies in the 21st century and ends by reminding us that - as has been said since Chaucer's time - the fairies are ever vanishing yet never truly gone, persisting across time and belief. The end notes provided for each chapter are also extremely useful. 

There are a few details I would disagree with, such as the Leannán Sidhe being portrayed as vampiric, but I acknowledge that such a view is genuine to existing folklore even if it originated with WB Yeats in the late 19th century. These disagreements reflect differences of opinion around complex folk belief rather than errors in the text. Overall the research presented is thorough and reliable and the bibliography is solid. 

The book is out right now only in hardcover, but the price point given that is quite reasonable and the quality is very high. I'd go so far as to say if a paperback version ever comes out the hardcover would still be the better investment. The cover art by Annie Stegg Gerard is gorgeous and the iridescent moths are a fun, whimsical touch (I did my best to capture the shimmering effect in the picture above, but it doesn't really do it justice). The book is heavily illustrated and the artwork throughout is engaging and evocative; the chapter opening images also by Stegg Gerard and in chapter art by Kristin Kwan. Kwan's art is reminiscent of Arthur Rackham without feeling derivative. Stegg Gerard's art, as in the cover example above, is vibrant and sets the tone for both the book and each chapter. The two artists' work flows well together.

A perfect option for anyone looking to learn more about who and what fairies are or to dive into the range of beings and stories found across cultures. 

Fairylore was released on 10 February 2026 and is available online and in bookstores.

Full disclosure I received an advanced digital copy of the book and provided a pre-publication endorsement for it. I had previously met the authors at a university conference in 2023. This is an honest review and reflects my thoughts and opinions on the book without bias. 

Victorian Era's Impact on the Image of Fairies

 This article was originally written for my Patreon in 2023 and I am making it public now

Yesterday I gave a talk for the Folklore Podcast,  as part of a lecture series to raise funds for the Folklore Library. My focus was tracing the history of the Scottish fairy courts across the last 500 years, from folklore to fiction. In the Q&A which followed someone asked a question about why we envision fairies as we do today and while I answered in the moment I thought I'd also offer a more expanded answer here for my patrons.

The short answer is, of course, the Victorians.

The long answer is that prior to the mid-19th century our understanding and perception of fairies was very different. They were not imagined with wings, or pointed ears, and were generally understood as being very human like in appearance, although not always in size, ranging from slightly less than two feet tall to around 6 feet tall (about 1/2 meter to 2 meters). The height often depended on the specific culture and the type of being, so that the Welsh Tylwyth Teg were described as 'the height of an 8 or 10 year old child' while the Irish Aos Sidhe were usually described as average adult height. Outside of this however there was rarely anything that physically distinguished these beings from humans, although they usually could be identified based on their words, actions, and a general aura of otherworldliness.

17th century woodcut showing fairies dancing in a ring

Henry Fuseli, 18th century, Titania and Bottom, showing the fairy queen Titania and her retinue of fairies with the donkey-headed Bottom

This began to change at some point in the early 19th century as fairies became popular in art and artists started depicting fairies with wings, and wingless elves with pointed ears. This may have been meant as a visual cue to viewers to make it clear the subject of the art were fairies or it may have represented a merging of the older understanding of fairies with the burgeoning idea of these beings as embodiments of nature and natural things, a concept which crystalized in the late 19th century with theosophies rewriting of fairies into elementals and nature spirits.

Initially however the change from non-winged fairies to winged wasn't decisive, and we see artists using both styles of imagery. For example the two following works by Francis Danby, the first of which from 1832 'Scene From a Midsummer Night's Dream' shows Oberon and Titania with wings while the second 'Oberon and Titania' from 1837 does not:

Through the 1870's we can find examples of fairies both with and without wings in art. For example this image 'The Fairy Tree' by Richard Doyle from 1865 shows 200 different fairy figures, none with wings, including several who appear to be flying:

By the 1880s however the wings dominate and can be found in all or nearly all artistic depictions of these beings. These wings are most often butterfly wings, occasionally more general insect wings, and range from small to larger than the figure itself. We also begin to see these visual cues used to gender these beings with female winged fairies and male elves with pointed ears, although there is some crossover between the two types of imagery.

It is also at this point that Theosophy begins, both taking the visual imagery of fairies found in art and also creating - or solidifying - the idea that fairies are spirits of the natural human world who are less than and dependent on humans. The combination of these two factors, Victorian cultural depictions and Theosophical descriptions, would combine to entirely rewrite the popular culture understanding of fairies in ways that are still effecting us today.

By the late Victorian era we find the idea of winged fairies, as shown in art, starting to crossover into fiction, and during the Edwardian period and first world war the wider cultural concept of fairies as small, winged, and connected to the natural world becomes nearly ubiquitous in English and American culture so that by the late 20th century people start to describe personal encounters with small winged fairies.

We shouldn't underestimate the power of art and fiction to shape folk belief, and be aware of how the media we consume influences our understanding of these beings.

References:

Fairies in Victorian Art by Christopher Wood
Victorian Fairy Paintings edited by Jane Martineau