Talk:A Book of Mermaids

Regarding Notability


An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy.

If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand the article to establish its notability, citing reliable sources. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for deletion, as per Guide to deletion. (See also Notability)

I guess my defense would be this: A Book of Mermaids is, in an of itself, not notable. But it is a small, linked thread in a wonderfully large fabric of history and knowledge about fairy tales that has been painstakingly compiled by many, many Wiki users. The author of this book, Ruth Manning-Sanders is one of the most important collectors and tellers of fairy tales in the 20th century. As you can see from her bio page, we are in the process of cataloging information about her dozens of fairy-tale compilations. By listing the contents of these books, as we have with A Book of Mermaids and many others, we are able to link to entries about many core tales that have been told and retold over the centuries. Currently, two tales from this book: The Magical Tune and The Groach of the Isle of Lok are linked into the greater fabric of the fairy tale history compiled on Wikipedia. I think there is value in this. By compiling the contents of these fairy tale compilations, we can find connections and trace the history of these tales. Andrew Lang's Fairy Books are another example of how this is being done with the contents of books that might otherwise be considered non-notable, in and of themselves. Otto1970 05:09, 27 October 2006 (UTC)


 * To quote the notability guidelines:
 * Nonetheless there is no dictum against any book that is reasonably spread or otherwise well-known or remarkable. Ask yourself if several libraries or bookshops, or a no-subscription website have a copy of the book, so that other wikipedians can easily consult the book, or at least have access to on-line or press-published reviews of the book.
 * And my local libraries have many copies of this book. Furthermore, since I read it there as a child, it has been widespread for many years.
 * Furthermore, it helps combat systemic bias by introducing fairies from many different origins. Goldfritha 23:53, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

There still doesn't really exist anything in the article to say why it is notable. I would assume that the argument is that if it made someone's local library that it's notable based upon sales or something, but someone should take the time to come up with that explanation. This isn't a horrible article, and not one I feel needs to be deleted, but every article should contain something to explain why anyone should care about the topic. DreamGuy 04:31, 21 May 2007 (UTC)