Rose meets a fairy and draws some water for her at a well. The widow is jealous and both she and her elder daughter mistreat and abuse the younger daughter. The younger daughter, Rose, is sweet tempered and beautiful and takes after her late father. The elder daughter, Fanny, is extremely disagreeable and proud but behaves just like her mother and is therefore her mother’s favourite. This story is about a bad tempered widow who has two daughters. 'The Fairies' is also known as 'Diamonds and Toads' (although it is listed in this book as the singular 'Fairy'). Even though I’ve worked in a bookshop for 20 years, there are two fairy tales here that I have not heard of before – namely 'The Fairy' and 'Riquet-with-the-Tuft'. This Folio Society edition of the fairy tales also contains Perrault's retelling of Beauty and the Beast so in total there are 9 fairy tales.

This collection contained eight fairy tales also found in this Folio Society edition, namely: He had a love for folktales which he penned and published first in 1697 under the title 'Tales of Mother Goose'. The spine is also decorated with gilt, pale lilac and pink, picturing what to me looks like a chandelier, with a gilt cockerel at the base of the spine.Ĭharles Perrault was a French author of the 17th Century. On the front cover is an elfin-like character in gilt sitting on a cloud beneath a vine of beautiful pale lilac and pink flowers. The book is bound in red buckram cloth, with decorations based on Edmund Dulac's design for ‘My Days With the Fairies’ by Mrs. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful of the Folio Society books, and I love fairy tales so what could be better than a lovely copy in a slipcase? ( View our current stock of this book - click here).

The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault illustrated by Edmund Dulac published by The Folio Society

The fairytale of charles perrault