The Classic Fairy Tales [Paperback]

Iona Opie (Author), the late Peter Opie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 1980

This volume contains twenty-four of the best known fairy tales in the English language, presented here in the exact words of their first English publication or of the earliest surviving text. Including "Sleeping Beauty," "Bluebeard," "Cinderella," "Thumbelina," and "Hansel and Gretel," as well as many others, this collection provides a historical introduction for each tale and a general Introduction which traces the history of fairy tales collected in Asia and Europe long before they appeared in English.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Opies' work is classic. . . . I'd . . . prefer this book . . . to a Grimms' collection."--Faron Scott, Fort Lewis College

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>
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Later Printing edition (November 13, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195202198
• ISBN-13: 978-0195202199
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,483 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.