"The Sleeping Beauty" by Walter Crane

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[The Princess is tempted to try spinning yarn]

Walter Crane, RWS (1845-1915)

Engraved and printed in colour by Edmund Evans

1898 ed., but originally published by Routledge in 1876

The Sleeping Beauty, p.2

Bluebeard's Picture Book

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Image download and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and the Smithsonian Libraries, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Forgetting to invite a certain fairy to the christening feast has had unforeseen consequences. The verse here is only about the plan to hold a feast: the illustrations start far ahead of the it, presuming knowledge of the fateful curse about the princess pricking her finger and falling into a prolonged slumber. The old woman spinning in the attic seems to be conflated with the wicked fairy, and portrayed as a witch, complete with black cat. She will be seen hurrying away at the end.

Bibliography

Bluebeard's Picture Book. Reissue. London & New York: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1898. Internet Archive version of a copy in the Smithsonian Libraries. Web. 8 June 2021.

Created 7 June 2021