



As the song proclaims, Beauty and the Beast is a “tale as old at time.” Well, almost.



The fairy tale La Belle et la Bête was written by French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740. In an era where women were rarely given credit for their artistic accomplishments, de Villeneuve’s story of an independent and head strong woman was centuries ahead of its time. Since its first publication, Beauty and the Beast has been rewritten and abridged by a number of authors, and has been a mainstay in classic fairy tale collections.