THE COMPLETE FAIRY TALES OF CHARLES PERRAULT

An intelligent new translation of all 11 stories, true to the original (the three verse tales have, sensibly, been rendered as prose, but the morals are in lively verse) and doubly welcome since the only other edition of merit in print (Dover, 1969, paper only) omits three of the tales. Simborowski is a translator and teacher; Philip, a well-regarded folklorist and critic, adds an introduction and extensive scholarly notes on the stories' predecessors and variants. There's also a fine note on ``Translating Perrault'' (``It is hard to convey in English...the splendid brevity...His distinctive wit and elegance are based in succinctness and economy. Many retellings...replace this asperity with a winsome, sentimental air that is entirely absent from the original...''), as well as a generously long bibliography. Holmes's delicate art—decorative grace-notes that occasionally blossom into full-blown illustrations, comfortably sharing a page with text or extending over a spread—are traditional in style, setting events in a comely time past. It's grand to have the real thing in such fine new dress—an essential reference for folklore collections, in attractive format that's sure to appeal to young readers. (Folklore. 5+)