Mother Goose Illustrated: From Perrault to Dore

Abstract

Once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?' Lewis Carroll's famous sentence captures the need for a specific kind of book devoted to children, and it points to the importance of visual and verbal expressions in the child's perception of a book. Illustration, as a reading of the text, helps adapt a literary work to the child. In addition to fables, tales are one of the principal genres of children's literature, and ever since Charles Perrault's tales were first issued in 1697, a plethora of editions, often illustrated, has been published. This text is therefore an apposite case for examining the historical semiotics of illustrated children's books. Although a considerable amount of excellent criticism has addressed Perrault's tales, it is surprising to note that the issue of their illustrations has usually been neglected. Marie-Louise Teneze, who referred to the illustrations in her article