Old French Fairy Tales is a collection of french folklore and fairytales, penned by Sophie Rostopchine, Countess of Sgur (1799 1874). Sgur was a French writer of Russian birth, best known today for her novel Les Malheurs de Sophie (Sophies misfortunes), intended for children. The anthology contains stories split into four categories: Blondine, Bonne-Biche, and Beau-Minon, Good Little Henry, Princess Rosette, Little Gay Mouse and Ourson.
The stories in Old French Fairy Tales are accompanied by the truly beautiful illustrations of Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900 1931). Presented alongside the text, her illustrations further refine and elucidate Sgurs masterful storytelling. Sterrett was an American artist and illustrator one of the most talented, though also most tragic, of the Golden Age illustrators. Sterretts illustrations are delicate yet powerful, inspired by the tradition of Art Nouveaux with its light washes of colour and sinuous black lines. She only completed three works in her lifetime, due to her early death from tuberculosis at the age of thirty-one. These include Old French Fairy Tales (1920), Tanglewood Tales (1921) and Arabian Nights (1928).
Pook Press celebrates the great Golden Age of Illustration in childrens literature a period of unparalleled excellence in book illustration. We publish rare and vintage Golden Age illustrated books, in high-quality colour editions, so that the masterful artwork and story-telling can continue to delight both young and old.
