"THE SUNSHINE OF PURE IMAGINATION": ANDREW LANG'S EDITION OF PERRAULT'S "MOTHER GOOSE" STORIES, IN THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, 1888

PERRAULT, Charles (LANG, Andrew, editor). Perrault's Popular Tales. Edited from the Original Editions, with Introduction, &c. by Andrew Lang. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888. Square octavo, mid-20th-century full turquoise morocco gilt, raised bands, patterned endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut. Housed in a custom leather-edged slipcase.

First edition, large-paper issue, of Andrew Lang's French edition of Perrault's Tales, "the basis for the modern canon of fairy tales," with a lengthy introduction and detailed notes by Lang, editor of the renowned Fairy Books series and "one of the most powerful and subtle intellects of his generation" (ODNB). Handsomely bound in full morocco by Whitman Bennett of New York.

Inspired by the fables of La Fontaine, Perrault began writing his own. His Contes began their career in 1695 "as a five-story presentation manuscript dedicated to Princess Élizabeth-Charlotte, Louis XIV's niece" (Clute & Grant, 752). When first published two years later, the book contained eight stories. Perrault's Contes—"La Belle au bois dormant" (Sleeping Beauty), "Le Petit Chaperon rouge" (Little Red Riding-Hood), "La Barbe bleue" (Blue Beard), "Le Maistre Chat, ou le Chat botté" (Puss in Boots), "Les Fées" (The Fairies), "Cendrillon" (Cinderella), "Riquet à la Houppe" (Ricky with the Tuft) and "Le Petit Pouçet" (Tom Thumb)—"provided the basis for the modern canon of fairy tales" (Bottigheimer, 3). These eight tales are of course included in this volume. Lang writes in his Preface that he compiled the book "partly as an introduction to the study of Popular Tales in general," noting that the French text attempts to restore the original (published) text of 1697, "with its spelling, punctuation, use of capital letters, and so forth." Lang provides a lengthy general introduction to Perrault's tales and then his notes on each individual story as well. Robert Samber produced the first English translation of Perrault's stories in 1729. Bookplate. Typed letter initialed by Whitman Bennett to the recipient of this book, as well as Bennett's catalogue description of the volume, laid in.

Faint foxing to photogravure portraits only. A lovely volume in fine condition.