The Classic Fairy Tales [Hardcover]

Iona Opie (Compiler), Peter Opie (Compiler)

Book Description

Everyone has at one time been inspired or enchanted by fairy tales, with their evil witches, pure princesses, heroic princes, and happy endings. Yet over the years, most of these popular tales have undergone many transformations, as editors and storytellers have shortened and sentimentalized them, as well as slanted them to suit the demands of the time.
Now reissued, Iona and Peter Opie's magnificent The Classic Fairy Tales, presents twenty-four of the best-known fairy tales in their original written form. Drawing on years of expertise, the editors provide introductions to each fairy tale, tracing the development of each story and noting points of interest. We learn, for example, that in a 17th century version of "Sleeping Beauty", the prince actually raped the princess in her sleep. Goldilocks, it turns out, evolved from the little old woman of the original story into a young girl. Little Red Ridinghood was actually eaten by the wolf, and in an early version of the "Frog Prince," the princess had to sleep with the frog to free him from his spell.
With classic tales from the likes of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, and the works of such famous illustrators as Gustav Dore, Kate Greenaway, and George Cruikshank, The Classic Fairy Tales brings to life the charm and beauty of these timeless favorites.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"All ages will enjoy Iona and Peter Opie's collection of The Classic Fairy Tales."--York County Coast Star

"Their most enjoyable book to date...For your money you get three books in one, the stories, the essays and the ample illustrations."--illiam Golding, Listener

"A beautiful book...both charming and scholarly"--Paul Barker, New Society

"Some wand must have been waved over the Opies to give them the brilliant idea for this book...A volume of extraordinary fascination and richness."--Edwin Morgan

"This is a book that everybody ought to possess."-- Richard Adams

"It is not possible to praise too highly The Classic Fairy Tales, selected, introduced, and annotated by the peerless scholars of children's literature Iona and Peter Opie."--The New Yorker

"Contains 24 of the best-known fairy tales, dozens of absolutely entrancing illustrations, and a brilliant and extensive commentary by Iona and Peter Opie, the peerless anthologists who have given us the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes."--Washington Post

About the Author

About the Authors:
Iona Opie and her late husband Peter wrote and edited many books together, including The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book, The Oxford Book of Children's Verse, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, The Singing Game, and Children's Games in Street and Playground>

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press; REISSUE Edition edition (June 1, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192115596
• ISBN-13: 978-0192115591
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #506,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fairy tales as they were first printed in the English lang., October 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Classic Fairy Tales (Paperback)

I first read this book in 1983, and was amazed with it then. It's unique and extremely interesting. Iona and Peter Opie have the original tales as first printed in the English language. Added to that is the history and the actual gruesome origins of what we now consider children's stories! For example, Sleeping Beauty is not awakened by a kiss. Her Prince Charming violates her while she sleeps (and since she doesn't wake up, we can only imagine how mediocre he was...). She only awakens 9 months later, during the birth of twins! He eventually returns to her, and then the story gets more complicated with his ogre mother who wants to canibalize the children. The story of the Frog Prince is even stranger. Since these are the actual tales, we can see how we've changed the stories to fit in with our culture. This is not a book for young children. The history part was the most fascinating to me. In addition, litle details such as learning that Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of squirrel fur, not glass. Both words in French are spelled similarly (vaire, verre...I'm not sure of the spelling either)and the original printer had a typo that lives on til today.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable reference, June 14, 2001

By 

Tim Sheppard (Bristol, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Classic Fairy Tales (Paperback)

Everything the Opies write is fascinating and approachable, and this book is a revelation. All these tales, familiar and no-longer-so-familiar, are great to read in this age of sanitised, bowdlerised, or Disneyfied folktales. But the historical details of how the stories evolved, what and from where the variants are, and the significance of various elements of the stories - all these are of great general interest, and are also invaluable to the storyteller needing to do a bit of research.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books of all time, April 5, 2007

By 

Meg (Milwaukee, WI, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Classic Fairy Tales (Hardcover)

My mother got this book for me when I was a child, and needless to say, it changed the way I learned fairy tales. Iona Opie presents some classic fairy tales as they were ORIGINALLY written... Dark, lurid, mysterious, and pessimistic. The artwork littered throughout the pages is commendable even if it were its own title.

I love this book so much that I have purchased it as a gift for countless friends, including a pen pal from Japan who found it amazing that our Western fairy tales (the stories told to our ancestors as young children) were indeed so graphic.

Great, great book -- a classic. Hope this one never goes out of style.