“The Blue Poetry Book” was Andrew Lang's first and only “colored” book of poetry. It collects nearly 150 poems by masters such as Blake, Wordsworth, Scott, Longfellow, Burns, Byron, Shakespeare, Poe, Marlowe, Coleridge, Milton, Macaulay, among others. The poems are accompanied by 100 black and white illustrations by Henry J. Ford and Lancelot Speed. Andrew Lang (1844 -1912) was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales and for his twelve “colored” fairy books, published between 1889 and 1910. Each volume is distinguished by its own color, beginning with “The Blue Fairy Book” (1889) and ending with “The Lilac Fairy Book” (1910). In all, 437 tales from a broad range of cultures and countries are presented. The series was immensely popular, helped by Lang's reputation in folklore, and by the packaging device of the uniform books. The series proved of great influence in children's literature, increasing the popularity of fairy tales over tales of real life.
