{"id":3832,"date":"2017-03-31T20:58:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T18:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/?p=3832"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:15:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:15:41","slug":"die-schoene-und-das-biest-gabrielle-suzanne-barbot-de-villeneuve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/2017\/03\/the-beauty-and-the-beast-gabriel-suzanne-barbot-de-villeneuve\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty and the Beast \u2022 Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

I\u2019m always browsing for beautiful books, and sometimes I stumble upon real hidden gems\u2014while other times there\u2019s simply no way around a book. Beauty and the Beast<\/em> from Coppenrath Verlag<\/a> isn\u2019t exactly a secret tip; I\u2019ve come across it quite a few times by now. Still, I have to blog about it, because the book is just stunning\u2014book art at its finest and an absolute delight. In this review you\u2019ll learn a bit about the book, but first I can only recommend scrolling on and enjoying the photos of this gorgeous edition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Right now the Disney Hollywood version of Beauty and the Beast<\/em> is flickering across local cinema screens, so it\u2019s a good moment to write about the book. No film can truly compete with a book\u2014and if there\u2019s even a deluxe edition, I\u2019ll naturally choose to read it first. The fairy tale was written in 1740 by the French author Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve. Born in Paris in 1685 and of lower nobility, she married a lieutenant colonel who squandered her fortune and died in 1711. To supplement her modest income as a governess, she wrote novels and tales. Unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t find any other of her works in translation, which is a pity, as I would gladly have read more by her.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Beauty and the Beast<\/em> (originally Beauty and the Beast<\/em>, often rendered earlier as \u201cBeauty and the Animal\u201d) only became widely known after Villeneuve\u2019s death, in a simplified version by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont\u2014shortened by removing the extensive backstory and streamlined to serve as an edifying book for children. This edition contains the first version from 1740, which includes the complete, more detailed narrative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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I was probably like many others: you know the rough outline, you saw the Disney animated film ages ago, but you don\u2019t remember any details. That\u2019s often how it is with fairy tales\u2014until you read them again to your kids after a long time and realize these old, timeless stories are unexpectedly entertaining even for adults.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A merchant, father of several daughters, ends up by chance at an enchanted castle. To escape death, he strikes a bargain with the Beast: his youngest daughter\u2014known to all simply as Beauty\u2014must go to live with the fearsome creature. From there unfolds a romantic story that, somehow, works remarkably well as you read. I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s the classic fairy-tale tone, the expectations set from the very beginning, or the way Beauty, as the heroine, fulfills a certain archetype\u2014somehow the book captivates you, even if you know the ending. I read it in one sitting; the text isn\u2019t overly long, and I simply couldn\u2019t put it down. Perfect evening entertainment. Stylistically, it\u2019s written in that typical fairy-tale register\u2014simple and a pleasure to read.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As hinted above, this edition is superb\u2014truly a dream of book art. The binding alone, with its beautiful embossed ornamentation and high-quality workmanship, won me over. Even the spine, with the castle and well-chosen typography, puts you right in a fairy-tale mood. You can\u2019t help but run your hand over it, as with most fine clothbound books.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Open the book and you\u2019re greeted by endpapers with a perfectly fitting pattern in a light petrol tone that contrasts beautifully with the red cover. Nicely primed by that, you turn to a title page and table of contents adorned with wonderful illustrations\u2014in a style you\u2019d expect from an old fairy-tale book. Not overdone, but just right. Somehow vintage yet fresh and new. Once again the typography is perfect\u2014just like in the main text. It\u2019s very pleasing for my detail-loving eye. I love it when a book uses a distinctive typeface that doesn\u2019t overplay its hand yet stands out from the ordinary. They\u2019ve nailed it here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Each chapter opens with a double-page spread framed by lovely ornaments that shows a scene from the chapter and offers a little teaser text. These spreads are simply perfect and atmospheric\u2014there\u2019s nothing to improve. The main text then begins with an initial, a decorative drop cap designed with great attention to detail. Before I\u2019d read a single line, I was already completely enchanted and 100% in fairy-tale mode.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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And it gets better: there are illustrations interspersed throughout the text\u2014sometimes for a single paragraph, sometimes for a page or two\u2014always with a distinctive, old-fashioned, fairy-tale aura. The story, already a delightful read, takes on a vivid face, becoming more tangible and immediate. Each chapter has its own emblem that appears in the pagination.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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To bring the book even more to life, nine extras have been added. They recall children\u2019s books with movable parts, flaps, or wheels; there are also fold-out maps and, for example, a door you can pull out slightly to create a 3D effect. These elements are all fixed in place and can\u2019t be removed. I found them charming and can imagine they\u2019re especially exciting when reading with a child; they don\u2019t contain major surprises or puzzles, though. If S.: Ship of Theseus<\/a> comes to mind, note that these features function more like illustrations or pop-ups than a box of removable ephemera.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This book was illustrated by MinaLima Design, a graphic design studio founded by Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima. They worked on the visual design of the Harry Potter films and are therefore quite well known. You\u2019ll also currently find Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them<\/em> in many bookstores, which also comes from this studio\u2019s hand. So there are prominent illustrators behind the book, and I can well understand its success. If you\u2019re in London, you can apparently visit their store as well. There\u2019s also an online shop where you can order various prints and books. For this title you can even order art prints<\/a>. More info at minalima.com<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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If, like me, you\u2019ve wanted to browse in a shop again only to find everything shrink-wrapped, here\u2019s a lovely video that gives a solid impression of the book: Beauty and the Beast trailer on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Conclusion:<\/strong> This book is a small work of art\u2014convincing both in content and design. Beauty and the Beast<\/em> is an entertaining fairy tale, pleasant to read, compelling in its storytelling, and anything but dusty. This edition is gorgeous and utterly won me over. It\u2019s a quality production, with a very handsome cloth binding, wonderful illustrations, rich atmospheric visuals, and that true fairy-tale aura with all the trimmings. Crafted with great love for detail, it\u2019s a beautiful book I can recommend to everyone. I\u2019ve already ordered Peter Pan<\/em>, another volume in this format. And The Jungle Book<\/em> is due out in summer and is firmly on my list. I very much hope this trend toward beautiful books continues.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Book information: <\/strong>Beauty and the Beast \u2022 Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve \u2022 Coppenrath Verlag \u2022 208 pages \u2022 ISBN 9783649624745<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m always browsing for beautiful books, and sometimes I stumble upon real hidden gems\u2014while other times there\u2019s simply no way around a book. Beauty and the Beast from Coppenrath Verlag isn\u2019t exactly a secret tip; I\u2019ve come across it quite a few times by now. Still, I have to blog about it, because the book … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Beauty and the Beast \u2022 Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Die Sch\u00f6ne und das Biest \u2022 Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve - lesestunden","description":"Immer wieder st\u00f6ber ich nach sch\u00f6ne B\u00fcchern und manchmal finde ich echte Geheimtipps und manchmal kommt man um ein Buch gar nicht drum herum. Die Sch\u00f6ne un"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[83,10,20],"tags":[128,129],"class_list":["post-3832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-book","category-classics","category-reviews","tag-gabrielle-suzanne-barbot-de-villeneuve","tag-minalima"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/die_schoene_und_das_biest_beitrag.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11081,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3832\/revisions\/11081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}