My Collection of Fairy Tale Books

Growing up, we always had a good selection of books in the house, including fairy tales.

One would think one each of the fairy tales of Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault would suffice.

Thank heavens, my parents didn’t think so. We had various collections, from easy-to-read ones for younger readers to the wordier ones as we got older.

It’s a shame there aren’t any photos of the books we had…

However, I do have photos of my current collection.

I’ll start with ‘The Classic Fairy Tales’ by Iona and Peter Opie, folklorists who pioneered the study of childhood culture in Britain. This has 24 well-known fairy tales, from ‘Sleeping Beauty’ to ‘Bluebeard’, ‘Puss in Boots’ to ‘Thumbelina’.

‘The Classic Fairy Tales’ - Iona and Peter Opie

Each fairy tale has a historical introduction, showing the story’s development and noting any points of interest.

The illustrations vary from black and white drawings to colour plates.

‘Sleeping Beauty’ by James Godwin in Planché’s ‘Four and Twenty Fairy Tales’ 1858

‘The Dancing Princesses’ by Kay Nielsen (from Arthur Quiller-Couch’s ‘In Powder and Crinoline’ 1913)

I bought ‘An Illustrated Treasury of Fairy and Folk Tales’ for the boys as it not only has familiar fairy tales but also others from around the world, including Spain, China and Australia.

The illustrations are by various artists.

‘Anaeet’ (Armenian tale); illustration by Gwyneth Jones

‘The Fern Girl’ (Mongolia); illustration by Kathy Wyatt

This 750-page tome, ‘The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm’, is translated by Jack Zipes, one of the world’s experts on children’s literature, and includes the ‘original 210 stories, plus 40 tales that have never before appeared in English’.

‘The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm’ translated by Jack Zipes

The black and white illustrations are by John B. Gruelle, and first appeared in ‘Grimms Fairy Tales’, translated by Margaret Hunt in 1914.

‘The Frog King’; illustrated by John B. Gruelle

‘The Prince who feared nothing’; illustrated by John B. Gruelle

‘Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales’ is another one translated by Jack Zipes.

‘Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales’ translated by Jack Zipes

It contains stories by Charles Perrault, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s ‘The Story of Beauty and the Beast’ and other French writers whose stories first appeared in the 17th and 18th century salons of the royal court.

‘Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales’ is a collection that ‘contains lyrical tales, bloody tales, hilariously funny and ripely bawdy stories from… the Arctic to Asia… pretty maids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls; enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters.’

In amongst the unfamiliar but intriguingly titled stories – ‘The Boy Who Had Never Seen Women’; ‘The Girl Who Stayed in the Fork of a Tree’; ‘The Market of the Dead’ – are some recognisable tales – ‘East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon’; ‘Little Red Riding Hood’; ‘Vasilissa the Fair’.

Although I prefer the book without the dust jacket, I keep it as I don’t want the cover to get dirty.

‘Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales’ without the dust jacket

This comparatively slim volume of 30 Japanese fairy tales, ‘The Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales’, a collection by Grace James has Warwick Goble’s delicate illustrations.

The tales are mostly sad, poignant though a couple are amusing.

‘The Peony Lantern’; illustrated by Warwick Goble

‘The Strange Story of the Golden Comb’; illustrated by Warwick Goble

Years ago, I succumbed to joining the Folio Society for the sole purpose of getting my hands on the generous introductory gift – this collection of fairy tales! Once I’d bought the required number of books, I reluctantly stopped my membership; I’d have bankrupted myself otherwise!