Books published by publisher Fredonia Books (NL)

This amusing and fascinating children's book is often called the Russian "Thousand and One Nights." Who is the old Genie Hottabych? This is what the author has to say of him: "In one of Scheherazade's tales I read of the Fisherman who found a copper vessel in his net. In the vessel was a mighty Genie -a magician who had been imprisoned in the bottle for nearly two thousand years. The Genie had sworn to make the one who freed him rich, powerful and happy. "But what if such a Genie suddenly came to life in the Soviet Union, in Moscow? I tried to imagine what would have happened if a very ordinary Russian boy had freed him from the vessel. "And imagine, I suddenly discovered that a schoolboy named Volka Kostylkov, the very same Volka who used to live on Three Ponds Street, you know, the best diver at summer camp last year . . . On second thought, I believe we had better begin from the beginning . . . "

The "Malachite Casket" is a delightful series of interlinking stories written by Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). These have served as the theme for cultural groups –Sergei Prokofiev was inspired by these for his ballet "The Flower of Stone"– and the themes for operas, symphonies and films have originated here. These stories are told to a young boy by a watchman, who lived on top of a mountain in the Ural Mountain region of Russia. The tales are darker and deeper than most Russian tales, exploring and expressing realistic social relations and internal struggles. There is not a single person in Russia who has not heard of "The Malachite Box" by Pavel Bazhov, who learned the unwritten history of The Urals while working as a boy in the old mines. The life of the celebrated author of well-known Urals tales as well as his books are inseparable from the Urals.

About three dozen examples of the folklore, legends, and tales for children from the literature of Scandinavia, especially Norway. Asbjornsen is one of the most fascinating and delightful writers of fairy tales, not only among young folks, but also among adult readers and students of folklore. Asbjornsen was first introduced to the English-reading public through Sir George Dasent's translations, published in 1858 and 1874. Other works followed with other translators over the years. The tales in this volume were first published in English in 1897.

The memories of Katy Leary, for thirty years his faithful and devoted servant. The book is a transcription of a rambling informal account by Katy Leary of her thirty years' service in the Clemens household. Mark Twain suggested that the faithful Kate tell the world all she knew about him. At the urging of Miss Lawton, and with her assistance, Katy Leary, now an old lady who lives entirely in the past, made this thick book. This title is cited and recommended by: Catalogue of the Lamont Library, Harvard College

An American con man claims to have a giant's forty-foot fossil skeleton as part of his collection. When it comes time to display it, he claims some animals destroyed it, which ruins him. However, this is part of his plan as a subscription list is opened for his benefit. This volume gives an account of humbugs, delusions, impositions, quackeries, deceits and deceivers generally, in all ages. P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) was an American showman who established The Greatest Show on Earth (1871), which merged with its major competition (1881) to form the Barnum and Bailey Circus. One of Mr. Barnum's secrets of success was his unique methods of advertising, and we can readily understand how he can bear to be denounced as a "Humbug," because this popular designation, though undeserved in the popular acceptation of it, "brought grist to his mill." One of the happiest impromptu oratorical efforts that was heard for some time was that made by Barnum at the benefit performance given for his employees on a Friday afternoon. If a stranger wanted to satisfy himself how the great showman had managed so to monopolize the ear and eye of the public during his long career he could not have had a better opportunity of doing so than by listening to this address. Every word, though delivered with apparent carelessness, struck a key note in the hearts of his listeners. Simple, forcible, and touching, it showed how thoroughly this extraordinary man comprehends the character of his countrymen, and how easily he can play upon their feelings. Those who look upon Barnum as a mere charlatan, have really no knowledge of him. It would be easy to demonstrate that the qualities that have placed him in his present position of notoriety and affluence would, in another pursuit, have raised him to far greater eminence. In his breadth of views, his profound knowledge of mankind, his courage under reverses, his indomitable perseverance, his ready eloquence, and his admirable business tact, we recognize the elements that are conducive to success in most other pursuits. More than almost any other living man, Barnum may be said to be a representative type of the American mind.

CONTENTS: The Silly Little Mouse Furry-Purry Pussy-Cat Henny Penny and the Ten Ducklings Zoo Babies A Little House Stood on a Hill Samuel Marshak was born in 1887. His start in literary life he owed largely to Maxim Gorky, in the circle of whose family he spent part of his youth. He first appeared in print in 1907, with lyrics of his own and translations of foreign poets. Marshak has been most prolific in the field of juvenile literature. He inculcates respect for the man who knows his job, respect for creative work. Marshak also wrote several plays based on Russian fairy tales and designed for the juvenile stage, including Twelve Months, for which he won the Stalin Prize in 1946.

This American classic is a humorous turn-of-the-century story about a train agent and the definition of a guinea pig. This hilarious tale of bureaucracy run amok at the Interurban Express Company, and exponential growth of the Guinea pig population shows what can happen when ignorance and bureaucrats get together and decide its fate when anyone with just plain common sense can solve the problem in less than one minute. Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was a native of Muscatine, Iowa. Dropping out of high school to help support the family he worked in a number of jobs including ones in a spice mill, an oatmeal mill, a china store, and a wholesale grocery. Moving to New York City in 1896, he began writing for trade magazines such as the Tailor's Review, the Wall Paper News, and The Decorative Furnisher. In 1905, his humorous short story, Pigs is Pigs appeared in the American Magazine, and the following year it was published in book form. Its phenomenal success allowed Butler to give up editing trade papers and turn to full-time authorship.

Memoirs of childhood in Ireland, a sentimental novel of an Irish village that sits at the edge of sparkling Destiny Bay. The story concerns the marriage of an Irish nobleman to a gipsy in 1889, and romance among his descendants. Destiny Bay was adapted by Tom Geraghty, John Meehan, and Brinsley MacNamara as the script for Wings of the Morning (Harold Schuster 1937), being Britain's first Technicolor feature movie; the score was sung by John McCormack Donn Byrne (Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne) was born in New York City. Shortly after his birth, however, his parents took him back to the land of his forefathers. There he was educated and came to know the people of whom he wrote so magically. At Dublin University his love for the Irish language and for a good fight won him many prizes, first as a writer in Gaelic and second as the University's lightweight boxing champion. After continuing his studies at the Sorbonne and the University of Leipzig, he returned to the United States, where, in 1911, he married and established a home in Brooklyn Heights. He earned his living, while trying to write short stories, as an editor of dictionaries. Soon his tales began to attract attention and he added to his collection of boxing prizes many others won in short-story contests. When Messer Marco Polo appeared in 1921 his reputation in the literary world was firmly established. Thereafter, whatever he wrote was hailed enthusiastically by his ever-growing public, until 1928, when his tragic death in an automobile accident cut short the career of one of America's best-loved story-tellers.

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