Collected Item: “Beauty and the Beast (Santa Claus Series). New York: McLoughlin Bro's, 1891.”
Full bibliographic citation (MLA)
Perrault, Charles. Santa Claus Series: Beauty and the Beast. New York: McLoughlin Bro's, 1891.
Title of the complete book/anthology (not a single chapter/fairy tale)
Santa Claus Series: Beauty and the beast
The name of the author or editor of the complete book/anthology (leave blank if none are listed)
Charles Perrault
City where the book/anthology was published
New York
The country where the book/anthology was published (use United States for US publications)
United States
The publisher of the book/anthology (as written on the title page)
McLoughlin Bro's
Date of publication (or date range from the library catalog, if no dates are listed in the book)
1891
The decade the book was published (use the drop down menu)
1890-1899
The fairy tale type (use the drop down menu)
Beauty and the Beast
The author of the fairy tale/chapter (leave blank if none is listed). If there is only an author for the whole book/anthology listed, use that author again for this entry
Charles Perrault
What is special about this version of the tale?
This is a beautifully illustrated and simply written version of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale. The inclusion of Beauty’s dreams drives the plot forward in a unique twist to this tale. This version also begins with explanations of her character versus her sisters’, spending the first pages proving that Beauty is selfless and kind. Beauty willingly stays in the Beast’s castle in place of her father and in the midst of the tale, Beauty is allowed to return home for a brief visit, only to return by choice to the Beast after a terrible dream. The tale concludes with the classic transformation.
A brief summary of the plot that highlights any unique variations
The tale begins with a wealthy family consisting of a father and his three daughters. The eldest two daughters were vain and haughty while Beauty was sweet and selfless. After many years, bad fortune struck the family and they lost all their wealth. While her sisters complained about the change of lifestyle, Beauty remained strong and positive. Eventually, the father travelled to the city where he heard one of his ships had returned. While the sisters asked for jewels and riches, Beauty asked her father to bring her back a rose. After a disappointing trip, the father ran into the Beast on his way home. The Beast allowed him to go free if he would bring back one of his daughters in replacement. Beauty volunteered and went to stay in the castle where she was impressed by the kindness she was treated with. After seeing her family through a mirror, Beauty was allowed home to visit her sickly father. There, she dreamt of the Beast dying from heartache in his garden. She immediately returned to the Beast’s castle and found him in the same state as in her dream. While the Beast was on the brink of death, Beauty realized her love for him and promised to be his wife. With this, the Beast transformed into a handsome young prince. He revealed to Beauty that he had been put under a spell, and that the good fairy had taken care of them in the castle. Beauty and the Beast were married, and her family came to live with them. She continued to be selfless and live her life doing good deeds for others.
The original source of the fairy tale, if easily identifiable (Straparola, Basile, de Beaumont, Perrault, Grimm, etc.)
La Belle et la Bête by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in 1740 in La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins (The Young American and Marine Tales)
A link to a digital copy of the book
: https://archive.org/details/beautybeast00perr/mode/2up
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