Turkish Fairy Tales

Fairy tales have long attracted the attention of people: who wouldn’t want to listen to stories about dangerous adventures, brave heroes, unknown creatures, and mysterious magic? Forty-four Turkish tales from this collection will open the doors for the reader into a world of sultans and princesses, devs and witches, djinn and dragons. These tales were collected and literarily processed by Ignatius Kunosh (1860–1945) — a Hungarian folklorist, an orientalist, a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and a privat-docent of the Turkish language. Kunosh traveled extensively through the lands of the Ottoman Empire and recorded tales that had previously only been passed down orally. These texts combine the colorfulness of Turkish folklore with the European fairy tale tradition, which is akin to the tales of the Brothers Grimm. For the first time, the collection of Ottoman-Turkish tales edited by Kunosh was published in Hungarian in Budapest in 1887; in 1901, these tales were illustrated by Hungarian artist Willy Pogány (1882–1955).

Willy Pogány (William Andrew Pogány) was born in the city of Szeged in Austria-Hungary and was known as a book illustrator, primarily specializing in children's books. Pogány's works are attributed to the Art Nouveau style: they are dynamic, elegant, and full of detail. One aspect of his creativity is graphic illustrations for myths and fairy tales. Magical creatures are a frequent theme in the artist's works. His heroes are expressive, agile, and precisely reflect the characters of fairy tales — beautiful princesses, wicked brigands, cunning witches, and terrifying devs. In total, the artist illustrated more than 150 books. In addition to book illustration, Pogány also engaged in painting, sculpture, and theater. In 1914, he moved to the USA, where he became interested in cinematography.