![]() ![]() Fairy tales as a literary genre became popular at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles, and this manuscript is in fact dedicated top one of his young nieces, Elisabeth Charlotte d”Orleans. This oral tradition is charmingly portrayed in the illustration for the frontispiece, where we see a nurse telling stories to her young charges sitting by the fire. “Contes da ma mere l’Oye” seems to have been a traditional term for such stories in France. Each of the tales undoubtedly had its origins in folklore and was passed down in oral tradition. ![]() The stories as we find them here must be admired more for the artistry with which they are presented than their originality. Dated 1695, it contains the earliest written versions of, and illustrations for, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Bluebeard, and Diamonds and Toads (Cinderella is absent). This is the original manuscript of the Tales of Mother Goose, attributed to Charles Perrault (1628–1702). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |