10 Facts about Madame Leprince de Beaumont

1. She was born as a Marie-Barbe to Jean-Baptiste Le Prince and Barbe Plantart in Rouen. Her father was a painter and sculptor, specialized in gilded sculpting (decorating houses with wooden elements covered with thin layers of gold dust). Her mother died when Marie-Barbe was only eleven years old. The business was not going well, so she and her younger sister were sent to a convent school where she was educated to become a teacher. She was 14 years old and in those days she changed her name to now much more known Jeannie-Marie.

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3. We can only guess what happened to Claude-Antoine Malter, but her correspondence shows it was a short-lived union. Well, short-lived in real life, yet she might stay his legal wife right to the end of her life. Official annulment of marriage or divorce can't be found in any available document and there is also no proof of his death which would make her a widow.

Jeannie-Marie Leprince de Beaumont separated Mr. de Beaumont in 1748 as a reaction to his marital infidelities but she kept his name for good. To make things even more unclear, there's a document where her supposedly estranged husband witnessed her signing a publishing contract with John Nourse in 1752.

His destiny is a bit of a mystery as well. Some sources claim he died of STD, others claim, he was killed in a duel.

4. Again, it's pure speculation how much truth is in accusations of several intellectuals who opposed Leprince de Beaumont's ideas in her works by discrediting her personalty. Jeannie-Marie was frequently mentioned in connection with several different men what was definitely not appropriate for a lady.

Especially not for a lady who worked as a governess and educator who should serve as a role model to girls turning into young women. Constant attacks in France were probably part of the reason for moving to London.

Apart from being a spy, he was also a writer and notorious seducer of young women. He met Mme Leprince de Beaumont in London and they lived together as a husband and wife for several years. We can even find data about them being married but this is not reliable. The available correspondence even proves this was not possible because she was legally still married to Malter at the time.

7. She moved to London to try her luck at British publishers and take the position of a governess. She worked in several influential families that probably inspired her to establish a magazine where she (and other authors, Voltaire included) published short educational stories. Fairy tales were among her favorites and she was probably the first author who wrote them strickly from the educational point of view.

The most popular format in the Young Misses Magazine (Magasin des Enfants) was the teacher talking to her pupils, discussing moral and ethical dilemmas, offering the solutions through examples in the fictional stories like fairy tales.

8. The popularity of Leprince de Beaumont's works surpassed her contemporaries like Emilie du Chatelet and Francoise de Graffigny, being compared to the most influential thinkers like Rousseau and Voltaire. Her work was always written in French and translated later - eventually to all major European languages with subscribers from Canada to Russia (including the Empress herself!).

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9. While we mostly know her version of Beauty and the Beast, she also wrote many other fairy tales that were not only a successful part of Young Misses Magazine but achieved at least moderate success on their own. Here are some titles:

• Aurore and Aimee
• Beauty and the Beast
• Belote and Laidronette
• The Curiosity
• Joliette
• Prince Charming
• Prince Darling
• Prince Fatal and Prince Fortune
• Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess
• Prince Spirituel
• Prince Tity
• The Tale of the Fisherman and the Traveler
• The Tale of the Three Wishes
• The Widow and her Two Daughters

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10. After fifteen successful years in England, she returned to France. Located at Avallon, Burgundy, she still stayed active, with numerous trips to Paris and even spending several months in Spain. Yet it seems the majority of her energy went to her daughter and her family (she bore six kids, including a future mother of Prosper Merimee).

While we can safely say Leprince de Beaumont's legacy lies in her instructions to parents and kids, especially on giving tips to young women preparing to marriage, modern analytics more and more often expose her unique contribution to feminism, which is based on Christian faith and paradoxically sacrifice, leading to strong and independent women who were not only able to equally participate in society but to transform it too.