It has been the Children's and Youth Book Day and I have rescued that jewel from my library: a very worn copy from the collection of the legendary Bruguera publishing house, Selección de Historias, from the Fairy tales who signed Sofia Rostopochina, Better known as the Countess of Segur. So today I look back, review his figure and enjoy them again, and the illustrations by Felipe Herranz Moral, one of the great cartoonists of the time.
Countess of Segur
She was one of the most famous writers of the nineteenth century and already a classic of children's and youth literature.
Born in Saint Petersburg in 1799 and was the daughter of a general of the same name who was foreign minister under Tsar Paul I of Russia and her mother had been a lady at the court of Catherine II. He emigrated with his family due to disagreements with the heir to the throne, Alexander I, and after passing through Germany (Prussia at the time) and Italy, settled in France. In Paris married Count Eugene de Segur, with whom he had eight children and many grandchildren. His dedication to literature came from the stories he told them when they were little.
began to write very late, already 58 years, but his works had a lot <strong>success</strong>, also international, and were translated into several languages. Thanks to this, he created the Pink Library, one of the first collections aimed exclusively at younger readers.
Altogether, he wrote about 20 novels, a collection of stories and a Bible curious also adapted as a story, which was the one he told his children and grandchildren. She also wrote a book on children's remedies plant-based.
Fairy tales
They were published in 1857 and illustrated them Gustave Doré.
All his work always stands out for the selfless and generous actions of the protagonists, but it does not forget either the selfish feelings and the bad acts. And, as usual, there is no lack of final moral about the consequences of those bad acts and feelings. The best known is the misadventures of Sofia.
In that issue, which includes the stories of bear cub, Violeta, Rosita, the little gray mouse, blondine y Henry's works we meet the princess blondine, who gets lost in the Forest of Lilacs and learns many things before returning to his normal life. Or we try to overcome the same difficulties as the child Enrique to cure his sick mother. We are also complicit in the pranks of the little gray mouse and we continue the sentimental history of the princess rosy and what the gentle and good does and thinks Violeta. all mixed with more fantastic beings like fairies, of course, or magical animals like Mama Cierva, the Kitten, the talkative and lying parrot or the frog.