Brian Froud

In the year 1967, he enrolled as a painter at Maidstone College of Art, where he graduated with a first class honors diploma in Graphic Design in the year 1971. He is an English fantasy illustrator that is best known for his book “Faeries” with Alan Lee, which is an illustrated compendium of faerie folklore. It was the basis of an animated short film released in the year 1981, and had sold more than five million copies by 2003 and hit number four on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

The best place to start is The Dark Crystal series, the earliest of Brian Froud's multi-book series: it opens with The World of The Dark Crystal (1982) and runs to 9 books across 1982–2023, ending with Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Creation Myths:: The Complete 40th Anniversary Collection HC (2023).

Brian Froud has 24 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1978 and 2026. 13 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being The Dark Crystal series with 9 books — and 11 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Brian Froud's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The Dark Crystal (1982–2023, 9 books), Brian Froud's Faerielands (1994, 2 books) and Lady Cottington (2002–2005, 2 books).

This guide splits Brian Froud's 24 books into 3 named series and 11 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: The Dark Crystal (9 books, 1982–2023); Brian Froud's Faerielands (2 books, 1994); Lady Cottington (2 books, 2002–2005).