Grimm's Grimmest, illustrated by Tracy Arah Dockray

Grimm's Grimmest, illustrated by Tracy Arah Dockray. 1997 hardcover. 142 pages, very nice condition.

Murder, kidnapping, cruel and unusual punishment, violent revenge…these are not the bedtime stories mummy used to read. Grimm's Grimmest presents nineteen original, unsanitized, wholly unholy tales as they were first collected by the Brothers Grimm circa 1822. The tales harken back to a time when travelers risked roasting or worse, and bad manners yielded frightful consequences. An insightful introduction makes sense of the mayhem, shedding light on how the Grimm brothers went from macabre to mainstream in fairly short order. From the true horror of Aschenputtel (the original Cinderella story) to Rapunzel's dark secret, Grimm's Grimmest features the authentic stories born long ago in the land of the Black Forest, at a time when fairy tales never ended happily ever after. Excellent illustrations.