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Beauty And The Beast

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""Beauty and the Beast"" by Charles Lamb is a classic fairy tale that tells the story of a beautiful young woman named Beauty who is forced to live with a beast in his enchanted castle. Despite her initial fear and reluctance, Beauty gradually learns to see beyond the beast's appearance and discovers his kind heart and generous spirit. As she spends more time with him, she begins to fall in love with him, and eventually breaks the spell that has kept him trapped in his beastly form. This timeless tale is a heartwarming story about the transformative power of love and the importance of looking beyond outward appearances. Charles Lamb's retelling of this beloved story is beautifully written and is sure to captivate readers of all ages.Sudden As Winds That Madd'ning Sweep The Foaming Surface Of The Deep, Vast Treasures, Trusted To The Wave, Were Buried In The Billowy Grave! Our Merchant, Late Of Boundless Store, Saw Famine Hasting To His Door.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1886

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About the author

Charles Lamb

2,018 books194 followers
Charles Lamb was an English essayist with Welsh heritage, best known for his "Essays of Elia" and for the children's book "Tales from Shakespeare", which he produced along with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847).

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5 stars
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19 (42%)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Perry Whitford.
1,952 reviews79 followers
June 26, 2019
Sparkling adaptation of fairy tale into rhyming verse by lovable early 19th century literary sot, Charles Lamb.

Or is it by Charles Lamb? According to Andrew Lang in his introduction to this edition, published in 1886, seventy-five years after it first appeared anonymously, uncertainty about its authorship remains. Lamb's name is on the original manuscript but he never mentioned having written it, and of course he was an extensive diarist.

The verse is certainly good enough to be his. It follows Beaumont's tale to the letter, except Lamb's enchanted prince is Persian instead of French, which is reflected in the accompanying illustrations. He tells the story with more zest and feeling than the source material, which I read immediately beforehand.

<>"Am I not hideous in your eyes?'
'Your temper's sweet,' she mild replies.
'Yes, but I'm ugly, have no sense:'
'That's better far than vain pretense'
'Try to be happy, and at ease,'
Sigh'd Beast, 'as I will try to please.'
'Your outward form is scarcely seen
Since I arriv'd, so kind you've been."

Apparently the publisher asked Wordsworth to have a stab at first before Lamb did / didn't do it but they couldn't get hold of him, he was off somewhere wandering as lonely as a cloud.
Profile Image for Marquise.
1,971 reviews1,491 followers
August 25, 2021
A wonderful blend of Beaumont's rendition with teeny-tiny bits from Villeneuve, plus Lamb's own.
Profile Image for Victoria Pring.
1,042 reviews2 followers
September 26, 2023
This version was all told in verse which was definitely not my favouriteway to read this story. While I enjoyed the story itself I wasn't fond of the poetry. I did appreciate they bothered to give the beast a name, that isnt always guaranteed in these earlier versions. Beauty's sisters are awful which is accurate to the original. It is interesting to see how some versions are able to stay close to the source material but make the telling entirely their own. While this is certainly not the best version ive read it was certainly memorable.
Profile Image for Marina De Pina-Jenkins.
87 reviews1 follower
December 24, 2024
Reading a vintage fairy tale in prose brings the magic alive. So beautiful and fairly easy to understand despite the old English style.
Profile Image for Kara Garza.
21 reviews20 followers
January 23, 2010
I have a copy of this that was printed in England in 1955. I adore it. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales.
Profile Image for Janeen-san .
265 reviews
September 4, 2013
Lots of differences from the Disney cartoon! :P
I loved this. It was great. Read for school, really glad I did! My favorite character was the Beast, he was great. :D
Profile Image for JennaYee.
27 reviews
March 1, 2026
I mean, it's beauty and the beast, cute, simple, classic.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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