We all know the standard and timeless fairy tales. You know, the ones about Cinderella, Snow White, Thumbelina, and so on but there are many wonderful fairy tales which you and your children may not be familiar with.

Favorite French Fairy Tales by Douglas, Barbara; Perrault, Charles, 1628-1703; Aulnoy, Madame d’ (Marie-Catherine), 1650 or 51-1705; Leprince de Beaumont, Madame (Jeanne-Marie), 1711-1780; Cramer, R., ill

Published 1900

http://www.archive.org/details/favouritefrenchf00doug

Old French Fairy Tales by Ségur, Sophie, comtesse de, and published in 1799-1874; with illustrations by Sterrett, Virginia Frances is available in the public domain and can be viewed at

http://www.archive.org/details/oldfrenchfairyta00sgrich

This wonderful book is magnificently illustrated with 8 beautiful and dramatic full page color and many black and white drawings by Virginia Frances Sterrett.

“Done when she was only 19 years of age, this was Sterrett’s first book, and she is often referred to as the ‘female Kay Nielsen’.”

The images are ethereal in nature and will appeal to both children and adults.

It is the images which first captured my attention when viewing this book in the archives.

They would make magnificent artwork and could be reproduced and sold as framed and unframed posters.

The images could also be used to create a calendar.

Motivated individuals could also find more of Virgina Frances Sterrett’s artwork and create compelling picture books, note cards, calendars and other products using her public domain artwork.

In addition to the images, the fairy tales are delightful. They include:
1. The Story of Blondine, Bonne-Biche, and Beau Minon.
2. Good Little Henry
3. The Princess Rosette
4. The Little Grey Mouse
5. Ourson

The complete collection is 279 pages in length and making each story long enough to be packaged individually as a single fairy tale. Some children enjoy collecting and packaging the fairy tales independently is a great way to appeal to this tendency. Depending on your audience’s age the stories can also be reformatted so there are fewer words on the page for the younger crowd who appreciates images and pictures with their story telling.

However for the older crowd who thrive on good storytelling and don’t require an abundance of images to tell the story, the book is already in perfect shape and would require little, if any, reformatting.

Old French Fairy Tales is a great collection of public domain story telling and images that provide an infinite variety of product and marketing options. You’re never too old for a good fairy tale and it’s refreshing to see such wonderful stories available in the public domain – not to mention the amazing artwork!

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