# Who Were The Langs?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/who-were-the-langs
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/who-were-the-langs.md
Podcast: [The Three Ravens Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563)
Published: 2026-07-30T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.threeravenspodcast.com/
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6404e1f4c5ea8c0011811194/e/6a6a15a12a5f0f3072f8312b/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/episodes/who-were-the-langs
Duration seconds: 3672

## Resource

We round out our recent completion of the Red Fairy Book by taking a deeper look at Leonora and Andrew Lang. Who were they, what were their lives like, and where did they fit into society and culture at the end of the 19th century? Looking at what we know so far about the Langs' own story, we talk about the boom in print culture after the advent of steam, and the rise of the wide variety of periodicals available to the Victorian reading public.  Examining the twelve coloured fairy books through the lens of the Victorian collector mindset, we talk commercial publishing and its critics, and explore the extraordinary creative coterie the Langs cultivated in order to produce their immense catalogue of work, both personal and collaborative.  We really hope you enjoy the episode! We're giving the Langs a rest for a while, though we certainly intend to return to the project in 2027. We will speak to you again on Saturday, when Martin is interviewing musician Richard Dawson. If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne. Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English. They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts. Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+). Thankfully, the colle…

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## Transcript

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