Classic Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault Hardcover – May 9, 2013

Run, not walk, to get a copy of the enchanted world Charles Perrault brought us when in 1697 he published "Les Contes de ma Mere l'Oye," swiftly & superbly translated into English by 1729 by one R. Samber. Or so says Thomas Bodkin in his charming introduction to this collection of ten stories illustrated by the celebrated artist Harry Clarke.The edition I am reviewing is the 1986 hardback facsimile edition of "The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault," first published in 1922 by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. There are other editions of Perrault, some marvelously illustrated by, for example, Gustav Dore, and there is a paperback 2015 edition of the Clarke version, many of which may be very good indeed. But this is the 1922 edition, and I sing its praises.Ten tales are included. Some were familiar to me, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Blue Beard, The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, The Master Cat or Puss in Boots, Cinderilla, and some were not, such as Riquet with the Tuft, Little Thumb, The Ridiculous Wishes, and Donkey-Skin. The text is wonderful in its cadence, perfect for reading aloud, jn its beauty, and in its gravitas, for these are tales of serious matters albeit often with happy endings.For instance, ""The very spits at the fire, as full as they could hold of partridges and pheasants, did fall asleep, and the fire likewise." And "The very moment the faggot-maker and his wife were got home, the lord of the manor sent them ten crowns, which he had owed them a long while, and which they never expected." And "The celebrations of this illustrious marriage lasted nearly three months, but the love of the two young people would have endured for more than a hundred years, had they outlived that age, so great was their affection for one another."The lavish illustrations are stylized using pen-and-ink, silhouettes, and water-color, the style being that of the 1910s and 1920s. Think Maxfield Parrish and Aubrey Beardsley, for example. The princes are androgyne. slender & nobly attired, the ballgowns are elegant enough for Versailles, the ogres loathsome and the villains distinctly Satanic with cloven hooves and shaggy limbs.This is a book to treasure, a legacy book for reading oneself and for sharing with a very lucky child.Any Alerts? One only--- the pen & ink drawings, Beardsley style, can involve bare bos*ms, including n*pples. Most children possibly won't notice but adults may. This book probably will not be inexpensive or easy to find, but worth the effort.

The stories are great! They were exactly what I was looking for and they came with beautiful illustrations, which was also what I wanted. However, there is something weird about the binding of this book. The first book I got was ripped between the first page and the front hard cover so I returned it and Amazon sent me another book. The book seemed fine at first but after looking closer I found that in between the pages there was a rip in the binding so that the pages weren't fully connected. I got tired of having to return the book so I just kept the book but I would recommend looking for a different collection of these fairy tales. The book itself is beautiful but it seems like the book won't last very long despite its beauty.

We bought this to read to our little girls at night. Didn't realize that each picture drawn of the princesses would be drawn with their boobs (nipples and all) hanging out!!! Some of the pictures are even like a totally clothed women EXCEPT for her boob with nothing on them. Apparently the guy that drew the pictures was a total creep and only saw women as piles of boobs. Maybe we will draw some clothes on them for him. I'm fine with nude statues and stuff, but this just makes you wonder what was going on in this guys mind. It's fun to read the fairy tails in their classic state, just might have to skip a few of the scary parts if reading to small children and improvise!

There's so much sexism in fairy tales. I liked the collection, it just bothered me how heavily sexist the stories were. But then again, these stories are very old.

The illustrations are lovely. The stories are a bit gruesome, but neither I nor my kids mind. It is refreshing in this age when children's stories are all sanitized and saccharine sweet.

The first Amazon review by "Owl" sums is all up. This book is a treasure with superb illustrations by Harry Clarke and easy to read text both grammatically and typeset. Compared with the Oxford edition, which appears more like a study book and written for a different purpose in this edition the text flows and almost reads itself with illustrations reminiscent of Kay Nielsen and Audbrey Beardsley and it appears that only due to the persistence of Harry Clarke it got published, so we owe him a debt for this beautiful book.

I'm not so much into fairy tales...but, the illustrations n this book are amazing. I only wish there were more of them. Illustrator is the Irish Harry Clark ... talk about Brilliant ! ;)

These fairy tales are very well known but I bought this book for its illustrations. Harry Clarke is perhaps not as well known as his contemporaries as an illustrator, but his work has its own charm. His pen drawings and his silhouettes mark him out as different from the others such as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac or Kay Nielsen, and are very refreshing.

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