Beauty and the Beast

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont was a French writer who wrote the best-known version of Beauty and the Beast, an abridged adaptation of the 1740 fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Born to a middle-class family, she was raised alongside her younger sister, Catherine Aimée. Both were provided education at a convent school and stayed on as teachers. Rather than remain and take her vow as a nun, she left for Metz, France, and became a governess for a prominent family in a court in Lunéville. As a long-time educator, she became well known for her written works on behavior and instructional teaching for young women. Her interest in the genre of education contributed to her inc