Perrault's Fairy Tales (Wordsworth Children's Classics) Paperback – November 30, 2004

Charles Perrault is hardly a household name, yet his "Old Time Tales" (1697) have had a profound influence on both high art and pop culture. He established the fairy tale as a literary genre, paving the way for the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. This volume contains the original versions of "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Bluebeard," "Puss in Boots," "Little Tom Thumb," and two less well-known tales, "The Fairies" and "Ricky of the Tuft." Be forewarned: these are not the sanitized, Disney versions most of us are familiar with. They are full of unexpected and often gruesome details, revealing the pervasive violence, poverty, and hunger underneath the glittering facade of seventeenth-century France. Perrault writes with the polished elegance of French neoclassicism. This edition includes 34 trippy illustrations by the inimitable Gustave Dore, who illustrated everything from the Holy Bible to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." Perhaps the best known is the frequently reproduced illustration of Puss in Boots, which has attained iconic status. This book will please readers of all ages, although it might be too intense for very young children.

Aside from the classic Puss N Boots picture, these faerie tales engravings of the Perrault versions are stunning, underlooked wonders. Lovely edition.

Good read but the size of the book is closer to a notebook or journal not an actual book

I had this book as a child, it has beautiful etchings in it. A Classic.

II have loved Perrault's stories since I was about four. They have an 'everlasting' quality. There are stories in this book I haven't read before. For many years I have enjoyed Gustave Dore's work and admired his faithful black and whites. His drawings always seem to carry a strong atmosphere in them. I bought the book because I couldn't wait to see how he would have done the illustrations. They are wonderful and bring the enchancted feeling of the text with them.

Bought the book for the old illustrations. They are beautiful. Wish people still drew like this today.

i sent this back

Original classics with all the hard views of life-- Red Riding Hood & Grandmother do not escape. The verse morals are very clever.

I bought this along with several other books of fairy tales out of a curiosity to read the original uncut versions, though there is no such thing as an original version since fairy or folk tales are handed down verbally until captured like this.This is a very old collection as it was first published in french in 1697. I liked the fact that it had gorier versions of stories I knew and some that were new to me.I liked this edition very much because although it is a paperback it is really well made and has a good feel to it and I will certainly buy books in future from this publisher (who I had not come accross before). This only has 8 stories and I believe the full collection is bigger. The illustrations are great black and white copies of the 19th century illustrations: my 9 year old daughter loved them (especially the ogre about to accidentally kill his own sleeping daughters) and the funny Puss in Boots, which made her want to read it and she enjoyed that too.

i thought the book would be larger with pictures suitable for children it is all words and it has a different cover to that shown, great stories just expected something a little more child friendly format :)

The book is very well translated, i enjoyed reading the book, only thing that i didnt like is that it doesnt have any illustration :(

A great compilation of the (main) stories written by Perrault as well as some of the classic tales written by other, maybe less well-known authors.

not a bad bedtime read