Cinderella is, without a doubt, one of the best known fairy tales and the version by Charles Perrault, first published in 1697, in Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé is the most popular. From Walt Disney’s animated film version of Cinderella (1950) to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s Broadway musical of Cinderella (1957) to last year’s live-action production of Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branagh and produced by Disney, all are based on the tale as told by Charles Perrault.
The Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books holds numerous editions of Cinderella. At a recent Curator’s Choice, some of those editions were shown and discussed. Here are some highlights.
Cinderella, or, The Little Glass Slipper: versified and beautifully illustrated with figures was published in 1814 by the London publishing firm, S. and J. Fuller, formed by two brothers, Samuel and Joseph, who operated their business from the Temple of Fancy in Rathbone Place. They published a series of books that included a set of paper dolls. While Cinderella may be “meanly attired” she possesses a virtuous mind. When her sisters go off to the ball she sings the following verses to console herself: “Hope shall not be banish’d my heart / And yield to the gloom of despair; / Tho’ this day may in sorrow depart, / To-morrow perhaps may be fair.”
Not everyone was keen on Cinderella. The Guardian of Education was a periodical, published between 1802 and 1806, that reviewed children’s literature. In a letter to its editor, Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, a correspondent who signed herself “O.P.” wrote: “[Cinderella] paints some of the worst passions that can enter into the human breast, and of which little children should, if possible, be totally ignorant: such as envy, jealousy, a dislike to [stepmothers] and half-sisters, vanity, a love of dress, &c &c.”
Certainly, O.P. would have approved of The History of Cinderella published in Devenport, Plymouth by S. & J. Keys around 1840. You may not have known but Cinderella’s real name was Helena. Besides being beautiful “she was so very good, / So affable and mild, / She learned to pray, and read her book, / When she was quite a child.” Her stepsisters, on the other hand, “scarce can read, / Nor pray to God to bless them.”
Sir Henry Cole disagreed with those who disapproved of fairy tales as being irrational stories and, therefore, a waste of children’s time. Under the pseudonym “Felix Summerly” he edited the Home Treasury series which was designed to “cultivate the affections, fancy, imagination, and taste of children.” As a father of eight children, Sir Henry would have known a thing or two about children’s tastes. Cinderella, or, The Little Slipper, published in 1845, was illustrated by John Absolon, a favourite of Queen Victoria, who organised performances of Shakespeare’s plays at Windsor with Absolon providing the painted scenery.
Walter Crane (1845-1915), along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, was one of the most prolific and influential illustrators of children’s books in the latter part of the 19th century. Crane was chosen by the engraver and colour printer, Edmund Evans, to collaborate on a series of toy books published by George Routledge and Sons between 1865 and 1876. Crane’s early work shows the influence of a sheaf of Japanese prints which came into his possession. In 1871, he made a long visit to Italy: his later toy books, including Cinderella which was published in 1873, are more elaborate in style and display a blend of what Crane called “an Italianizing influence” along with that of the Japanese.
Born in Toulouse, France, Edmund Dulac (1882-1953) studied law for two years before attending full-time art classes. His decision to concentrate on magazine illustration led him to London where he also drew commissions for book illustration work. The Sleeping Beauty, and Other Fairy Tales, published in 1910, was one of ten beautiful gift books illustrated by Dulac between 1907 and 1918. The stories by Perrault are retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.
Alan Suddon was the Head of the Fine Arts Department at the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library until his retirement in 1987. In this bilingual version of Cinderella, published by Oberon Press in 1969, Suddon uses collage illustrations for his retelling of the classic fairy tale. While Cinderella is busy in the kitchen, her stepsisters sing or play the piano or have a glass of sherry. Cinderella imagines her sisters’ arrival at the castle for the ball. The Prince would be there “in his swallow-blue coat…smoking a golden cigarette as if he cared nothing for the Dukes and Duchesses with their velvets and silks, or even for the Admiral with his monocle.” The fairy godmother appears in a red and white candy-striped dress.
Please visit Toronto Public Library’s Digital Archive to view some of the many editions of Cinderella held at the Osborne Collection.
