French fairy tales

14,99

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French fairy tales

14,99

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In stock

The Countess de Segur began to compose fairy tales for her grandchildren, and she had many of them - two dozen. In 1857, these stories were published as a separate book, which appealed to the French public. At that time, the countess was already in her sixties. She lived in Normandy, in the estate of Nuette, which in some way subtly reminded her of her native Voronovo estate near Moscow. It was there, in Russia, that the childhood of the future writer passed. She was the daughter of General Fyodor Vasilievich Rostopchin, the Moscow governor, who took an active part in the dramatic capital events of 1812. Sofya Feodorovna's father was a zealous Slavophile and occasionally composed amusing comedies, not considering himself, however, as a professional writer. In 1815 he left Russia for Karlsbad to treat his failing health and then lived for some time in Paris. In 1817 his family also moved there. So Sofia Fedorovna ended up in France, where she soon married Count Eugene de Segur. She never returned to her homeland in Russia. From her pen after the "New Fairy Tales" came out more than two and a half dozen essays, the most famous of which were "Sonya's leprosy" - a collection of funny stories written in French especially for children. This book by de Segur by the end of the XNUMXth century became a real bestseller in Europe. Benevolent critics sometimes called the countess "Balzac for children."
The book is decorated with illustrations by the talented American artist Virginia Francis Sterrett. Her drawings for "Old French Tales" for the American publishing house "Penn Publishing" became the first commission that Virginia received in 1920 after studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. Sterrett was a fan of the art deco style and tried to follow it in her work. In the drawings made for Segur's fairy tales, this immediately catches the eye. Sterrett spent her childhood in Chicago. At the beginning of the 1928th century, this city did not particularly please the inhabitants with its beauty, and Virginia's drawings resembled some dreams about other, wondrous and alluring worlds, the images of which arose in the artist's head. Sterrett was in poor health, and in her short but vibrant life she managed to issue only a few editions. Her last work was illustrations for the tales of the Thousand and One Nights. She completed them in XNUMX. Critics wrote that Sterrett's drawings are distinguished by "a tender, fantastic beauty, depicting which she must have been escaping from the harsh reality of life."

Barcode: 9785960309028 SKU: 70174316 Categories: ,
Publication language: Russian

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