Snow White by Charles Santore - Brothers Grimm - First Edition Child Book, Kids Book - Vintage Book, Fairy Tale, Seven Dwarfs

First edition of Snow White by Charles Santore. A beautifully illustrated version of Snow White based on the Brothers Grimm version published in 1812.

Written by the Brothers Grimm. Illustrated by Charles Santore. First edition, 1996. Park Lane Press, New York - Avenel, a division of Random House.

"Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers on the earth, a queen sat at a window framed in black ebony, and sewed. And as she sewed and gased out at the white landscape, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell on the snow outside. The red droplets showed so clearly against the white snow that she thought to herself, Oh, what wouldn't I give to have a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony!"

The queen's wish was granted but soon after the birth of Snow White, she died, and we know what happened next. Or do we? This telling of Snow White is truer to the Grimms' original, published in 1812, than to Disney's.

As the original story goes, a jealous queen is angered to be told by her magic mirror that there is one in the land who is more beautiful than she, and she tries and fails to remove the competition. Once, when the Huntsman takes Snow White into the woods to kill her but responds to her pleas for mercy and lets her go, and she escapes into the forest and is taken in and protected by the seven dwarfs. Twice, when the wicked queen, having learned that she still lives, finds her at the dwarfs' cottage and, disguised as a kindly old peddler woman, attemps to suffocate her. Three times, when Snow White survives death by an enchanted comb. Finally, on the fourth try, she succumbs to the poisoned apple. The heartbroken dwarfs enclose their beloved Snow White, who appears to be sleeping, in a glass coffin and carry her to the top of their mountain, where years pass until a handsome prince finds her, rescues her, and makes her his queen. In the meantime, next time someone suggests dancing your shoes off, think twice.

Charles Santore (1935- ) is an award-winning American illustrator whose work for this edition of Snow White is alive with beautiful color and detail.

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Condition*: Fine/Near Fine. Dust jacket: Minor shelfwear; minor ruffle along upper edge. Inside, there's a small, hard-to-see shadow of a label in the top right corner of the title page.

* Based on guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.