This paper focuses on the collaboration of two artists, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić and Vladimir Kirin, who worked together on the collection Tales of Long Ago. The research traces the history of the book as a material object and interprets its cultural and symbolic status from the first edition illustrated by Kirin, published in 1924, to the 2010 edition. Drawing on archival material, the paper reconstructs the beginnings of this collaboration, the appearance of editions that appealed to both Brlić-Mažuranić and the public, and the creation of the cultural representation of the Tales in which Kirinʼs illustrations are an essential part. Previously luxurious and richly illustrated books, the symbolic value of the editions with Kirinʼs illustrations drastically changed after World War II. The changing socio-political (later also literary) circumstances altered the visual representation of the book: Kirinʼs illustrations were gradually forgotten, and their rare appearance perceived as a nostalgic and political act.