Traditional Fairy Tales

Throughout his career as a children's book illustrator, John has retold and illustrated many traditional fairy tales by well-known classic fairytale authors such as Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, and other traditional tales by unknown authors. This page shows just a few examples.

Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Illustration by John Patience for The Little Mermaid
Illustration by John Patience for The Snow Queen

The eight books in this series are:

  • The Emperor's New Clothes / It's Absolutely True
  • The Little Match Girl / The Old House
  • The Little Mermaid / The Red Shoes
  • The Snow Queen
  • The Steadfast Tin Soldier / The Princess and The Pea
  • The Tinder Box / The Shepherdess and The Chimney Sweep
  • The Ugly Duckling / The Beetle
  • Thumbelina / The Nightingale

Each book has 24 pages with full colour and black and white illustrations. All the books contain two different stories except for The Snow Queen.

If you are a publisher interested in foreign publication rights, please see details on our dedicated foreign rights web site.

Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault and others

The twelve titles in this series are:

  • Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (traditional tale, author unknown but included in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights)
  • Beauty and the Beast (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Cinderella (author: Charles Perrault)
  • Goldilocks (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Hansel and Gretel (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Jack and the Beanstalk (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Little Red Riding Hood (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Pinocchio (author: Carlo Collodi)
  • Puss in Boots (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Rip Van Winkle (author: Charles Perrault)
  • Snow White (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • The Pied Piper (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • The Sleeping Beauty (author: the Brothers Grimm)

If you are a publisher interested in foreign publication rights, please see details on our dedicated foreign rights web site.

About Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen - also known simply as Hans Andersen - was a Danish author who is known throughout the world for his many stories for children. His stories usually had a strong moral theme and often depicted the struggles of poor people to survive. You can find out more about Hans Andersen on Wikipedia [opens in new window]

About the Brothers Grimm

Wilhem and Jacob Grimm - known as The Brothers Grimm - were German brothers who collected and retold folk tales. They were largely responsible for stories such as Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel and Sleeping Beauty becoming so well-known and popular. Find out more about the Brothers Grimm on Wikipedia [opens in new window]

About Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault was a French author who is generally considered to be responsible the popularity of fairy tales. In fact, some of his versions of older, traditional stories, may have influenced the Brothers Grimm. Perrault's versions of traditional folk tales were often much more 'gruesome' than the versions we are familiar with today, and carried a strong moral message. Find out more about Charles Perrault on Wikipedia [opens in new window].

Pop-up Fairytale Books

John produced two series of fairy-tale books in pop-up form:

Fairy Tale Favourites Pop-Up Books

The first series of four books was so popular that John was asked to do more and eventually there were three series of four books, including many all-time favourite fairy tales.

Perhaps you remember some of these books.

Series 1

Cover of the Series 1 of Fairy Tale Favourites Pop-ups, retold and illustrated by John Patience
  • Hansel & Gretel
  • Jack and the Beanstalk
  • Puss in Boots
  • Sleeping Beauty

 

Series 2

Cover of the Series 2 of Fairy Tale Favourites Pop-ups, retold and illustrated by John Patience
  • Goldilocks and the Three Bears
  • The Elves and the Shoemaker
  • The Little Mermaid
  • The Ugly Duckling

 

Series 3

Cover of the Series 3 of Fairy Tale Favourites Pop-ups, retold and illustrated by John Patience
  • Little Red Riding Hood
  • Peter Pan
  • Pinocchio
  • The Wizard of Oz

 

 

A Fairy Tale Pop-up

This series of fairytale pop-up books includes titles which were not included in the other series. These are surely some of the best-known and most popular fairy tale stories ever. As you probably know, they were all made into animated films by Walt Disney. In fact, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first ever animated feature film, made by Walt Disney Productions, way back in 1937!

Titles in this series:

  • Aladdin
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Cinderella
  • Snow White

 

Cover of the Series A Fairy Tale Pop-up, retold and illustrated by John Patience

 

Once Upon a Storytime

This series includes John's retelling of stories by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (better known as the Brothers Grimm), Charles Perrault and Carlo Collodi. There are 13 titles in the series.

Titles in this series:

  • Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (traditional tale, author unknown but included in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights)
  • Beauty and the Beast (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Cinderella (author: Charles Perrault)
  • Goldilocks (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Hansel and Gretel (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Jack and the Beanstalk (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Little Red Riding Hood (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Pinocchio (author: Carlo Collodi)
  • Puss in Boots (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • Rip Van Winkle (author: Charles Perrault)
  • Snow White (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • The Pied Piper (author: the Brothers Grimm)
  • The Sleeping Beauty (author: the Brothers Grimm)

Pictures to follow soon!