#357 of 1001 · July 23, 2021

Beauty and the Beast Week now brings us to this fascinating version by Etienne Delessert, who uses the the tale’s supernatural details as jumping-off points for his bizarre imagination. Humans, animals, and objects appear in his trademark grotesque style. Whimsical details include a large, hanging spider with flashlight eyes, a flock of birds playing dominoes, and a Beast in the shape of a large eagle with paws and a fanged beak. A note for folklore enthusiasts: this edition incorrectly attributes the source material to French writer Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d’Aulnoy. The true author of the original tale is Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Madame d’Aulnoy, who died many years before the story’s publication in 1740, did, however, write numerous literary fairy tales using folkloric motifs present in Madame Villeneuve’s later work (both authors were likely inspired by the tale of Cupid and Psyche from Roman philosopher Apuleius’s book the The Golden Ass, written in the second century of the Common Era). #beauty #beast #castle #rose #mirror #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks