Once Upon a Time...: A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tale Illustrations (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)

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Figure 13: Edmund Dulac, “She played upon the ringing lute, and sang to its tones.” The Wind’s Tale in Stories from Hans Andersen with Illustrations by Edmund Dulac, 1911, Watercolor and ink on paper In his timeless meditation on fantasy and the psychology of fairy tales, J.R.R. Tolkien asserted that there is no such thing as writing “for children.” The sentiment has since been echoed by generations of beloved storytellers: “Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time,” E.B. White told The Paris Review. “You have to write up, not down.” Neil Gaiman argued that protecting children from the dark does them a grave disservice. “I don’t write for children,” Maurice Sendak told Stephen Colbert in his final interview. “I write — and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’” In Robert Samber’s original, 1729 translation of the United States edition, the story ended with the wolf eating both Red Riding Hood and her grandmother: the end—that’s it. A moral followed the tale’s conclusion: “Growing ladies fair, / whose orient rosy blooms begin t’appear . . . / It is no wonder then if, overpowered, / So many of them has the Wolf devoured.”[3] In contrast to the typical Disney portrayal of Rapunzel, here we can see Crane’s usual reverential treatment of his subjects. Crane’s interpretation of the fairy tales is about serious artwork for serious literature, age-old and meaningful – more than just bedtime stories.

On 20 December 1812, the Brothers Grimm published the first volume of their famous fairy tales, entitled Kinder- und Hausmärchen which translates as Children’s and Household Tales, but which is popularly known as Grimms’ Fairy Tales. For the next two decades he wrote and illustrated a huge number of general and children’s literature, moving around and publishing under aliases to hide from the relentless scandal that pursued him. One of these pseudonyms was Richard André. The story “Red Riding Hood” does involve a heroine’s journey, but it too puts a twist in the self-discovery angle. Though the basic plot of the story is centuries older than any published form, Charles Perrault released the first definitive version, “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge,” in the fairy-tale compendium Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. Avec des Moralitez, published in France in 1697 and in the United States in 1729 (as Histories, or Tales from Past Times).Figure 6: John Tenniel, “Off with Her Head!” Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, 1865, Wood engraving Le nouveau pays des merveilles. Héritage et renouveau du merveilleux dans la culture de jeunesse contemporaine The Grimms’ original story “Rapunzel” would be familiar to today’s readers—to a point. A young prince pleads with the title character to allow him to climb up into the tower in which she is held by a sorceress, or fairy, and something unexpected (or perhaps not) happens:

George Bodmer, “Arthur Hughes, Walter Crane, and Maurice Sendak: The Picture as Literary Fairy Tale”, Marvels & Tales , 17.1, 2003, p. 120-137. Mayfair-born William Roger Snow (1834-1907) went up to Cambridge in 1854 but by 1855 had left the university and signed up to the British Army. During his 20 years of soldiering he served all over the world while still finding time to publish books and plays and to paint. In 1875 he left the army under a cloud after an affair with a Dublin actress.Susan E. Meyer, A Treasury of the Great Children’s Book Illustrators (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987) 88. These different types of text-picture-relationships are explained in: Maria Nikolajeva, Carole Scot (...)

R.W. Lovejoy, Chapter 11, “Dangerous Pictures: Social Commentary in Europe, 1720-1860,” in History of Illustration (New York: Bloomsbury, 2018) 181.In this blog post we will delve into the library’s rare books collection to look at how some of the leading book illustrators of the late 19th and early 20th centuries interpreted the fairy tale world of the Brothers Grimm. All titles pictured are Homerton College Library’s own copies and all are first editions unless otherwise stated in the photo captions. Walter Crane, 1882 Grimm’s Household Stories [833 GRI(GHS)] Toy Books were short, inexpensive children’s books popular during the Victorian era. Edmund Evans revolutionized the market for Toy Books when he hired Walter Crane, and began producing very large print runs for the first editions, often more than 10,000.

Among the other popular characters Perrault and the Grimms introduced were Cinderella and Snow White. Variations on the archetypal character Cinderella have been shared around the world for centuries, but the most familiar version was first published in Charles Perrault’s seminal fairy-tale compilation from 1697. “Little Snow White” first appeared in the 1812 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. In this version, the evil queen is Snow White’s “godless mother,” though later editions omitted this portrayal, “clearly because the Grimms held motherhood sacred,” one scholar asserts.[6] These art images include Doré's illustrations to The Divine Comedy, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Perrault's Fairy Tales, Don Quixote, Paradise Lost, Contes Drolatiques, Fables de La Fontaine, Tennyson's Elaine, and others. Brothers Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859) Grimm grew up in Hesse, in the heart of Germany. Still one of the greenest areas of the country, during the Grimms’ childhood it was even more heavily-wooded than today. While it was no doubt a fertile breeding ground for the fairytale imagination, the 86 tales of the first volume that were collected and told by the brothers had origins that were shrouded in the mists of time. Many came from Germany but there were others tale that came from France and Italy.Gustave Dore Rime of the Ancient Mariner is now mobile-friendly. Complete text of Coleridge's poem accompanied by 36 Dore illustrations. Neil Gaiman thinks a great deal, and with great insight, about what makes stories last. It is hardly surprising, then, that the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm would bewitch his imagination both as a storyteller and as a philosopher of storytelling. More than a decade after the publication of his widely beloved book Coraline, Gaiman brings this spirit of dark delight to his magnificent adaptation of the Grimm classic Hansel & Gretel ( public library).