Anthony R. Montalba

Montalba edited Fairy Tales from All Nations, illustrated by Richard Doyle and published by Chapman & Hall in 1849. In the introduction to his book, Montalba declared that the folly of declaring fairy tales to be immoral had now been "cast off". Jack Zipes explains the Puritanical background and the flowering after 1840 in the introduction to his Victorian Fairy Tales anthology. (Harper & Brothers announced the US edition as forthcoming "In December", and it may have been published then, although dated 1850 on the title page.) A new edition of collection was published in 1872 under the title Famous Fairy Tales, or perhaps Famous Fairy Tales of All Nations, probably in four volumes. (Library of Congress catalogue records: ; .) ==Life==

Montalba was the son of Aron Abrahamson and Frederika Schlesinger. He was born in 1812 in Karlskrona, Blekinge Iän, Sweden and named Salomon. Montalba married an English • Ellen Emeline (1842–1912), who studied at the Royal College of Art and in Europe, being based in Venice along with her family. She painted a number of portraits and landscape paintings. Among the portraits she exhibited was one of her sister Clara. • Edward Augustus (1843–1938), whose house in Venice became a gathering place for artists. • Hilda Montalba (1845–1919). Like her sisters, Hilda painted many landscape subjects, including scenes of Venice. Like Clara she painted fishing boats, and also painted close-up studies of Venetian people. One notable example of her work is a painting now in the Graves Art Gallery in Sheffield, Boy Unloading a Venetian Market Boat. The 1871 British census shows Montalba living at 19 Arundel Gardens, Notting Hill, London, with four daughters, all artists. Montalba died in Venice on 24 July 1884. ==References==