Beauty and the Beast is one of the classic works of literature for kids with countless versions. It has a very rich history aiming at the adult audience at first. We can also recognize not one but several old myths in the story about the beautiful girl and the bestial creature with supernatural powers. If you want to dig deeper there's a good start to explore the mythological aspect of The Beauty and the Beast, but this post is dedicated to John Hassall's vision of the fairy tale in the picture book for kids.

 

 

This edition was published by Blackie and Sons in popular collection Blackie's Coloured Picture Story-Readers for Infants in Glasgow and London in 1903.

 

 

It's a standard combination of colored and black and white pictures with a very limited amount of shades, printed on thin paper making an inexpensive mass product which surprisingly survived for more than a century in pretty good condition. Scans were digitally edited to cover the traces of characters printed on the back sides of the pictures but pictures are still very clear and Hassall's professional skills are undeniable. Some of them are already visible on the so-called frontispiece showing probably the most popular scenes among the illustrators - the dinner of the Beauty at the Beast's castle.

 

 

As you can already noticed in the so-called frontispiece Hassall's Beast is very similar to a bear, which is one of more popular approaches to portraying this character amons the illustrators in the 19th century. You can also compari it with the bears in the story The Three Bears by the same artist.

The book starts with a short dialogue between a little girl who is sick and her nurse who promised her to read a story from a new book - The Beauty and the Beast.

 

 

There was a rich man with three daughters. One of very pretty and called Beauty. The other two were jealous. One day the father lost all his fortunes and they had to move in a much smaller home. Beauty tried to make the best out of the situation while her sisters complained all the time.

 

After a while, good news came. One of the father's ships was found in the sea and should come to the port soon. Father planned to leave the home so he can sell the goods from the ship and promised to bring gifts to his daughters. Two wanted expensive clothes but Beauty would be happy with only one white rose.

 

 

But the ship hit the rock and sunk before it reached the port and everything on it was lost for good. The merchant was broke again.

 

 

He was very depressed. On the way back a storm caught him and he strayed from the path. Tired and freezing he came to a large castle.

 

 

He entered. It was a very luxurious place but he saw nobody. No owner, no servants. There was a table with a lot of food and drink on it. He had dinner and found a room to sleep. In the morning his old dirty clothes were replaced with new better ones. Breakfast was already waiting for him.

 

After another good meal, he decided to leave. There was no sign of snow outside. On the way out of the property, he saw many beautiful rose trees and remembered his promise to Beauty. He picked one of the white roses.

 

 

When he did that a large beast with a golden crown popped up in front of him. The merchant shouldn't do that!

 

He felt on his knees begging for mercy. He told the beast about his daughter and her wish for a rose.

 

The beast said he will die unless one of the daughters is willing to live with the Beast (that was his name) in his castle. If not, the father must return and die!

 

So the merchant came home with the sad news. Beaty was instantly willing to sacrifice herself for her father's life. The father and his beautiful daughter returned to the castle. she stayed there and Beast was very kind to her. She had a lot of pretty stuff, great food, but was a bit bored.

 

She was scared of the ugly owner yet after a while she accustomed herself to him. They started to eat together and they went for a walk occasionally.

 

He asked her if she will marry him. She said no.

 

 

Time passed and she wished to see her father again. She promised she will return in a month and he gave her permission to leave the castle. He said she must be back in a month or he will die.

 

Her father was very happy to see her and sister convinced her to stay for more than a month. Then she had a dream: Beast was dying...

 

 

When she returned to the castle, Beast was lying in the garden being unconscious. She realized how fond of him she became and told him she would like to become his wife. Then he changed into a handsome prince.

 

 

He told her about a wicked fairy who put a spell on him. He should stay in the form of a beast until he finds a young lady who is willing to wed him.

 

A magnificent wedding party followed and her family moved to the castle as well.

 

 

As you can see this version is pretty soft, with a very low level of conflict, more appropriate as a nursery story than a dramatic love spectacle as the Beauty and the Beast in some other versions. But thanks to John Hassall's illustrations it's a beautiful and historically important variation anyway.

 

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