Who Was Charles Perrault?

More than any other writer except the Brothers Grimm, Perrault's name is associated with the collecting and popularising of traditional stories. In 1697 the former Civil Servant and member of the Academie Francaise published his eight "Tales of Times Past. " These include such classics as "Cinderella," "The Sleeping Beauty," "Bluebeard" and "Puss in Boots." The Tales seem to be set down much as Perrault heard them, though he ended each one with a short rhyme of his own, summing up the moral of the story.
Sadly for later scholars, Perrault made no attempt to record how and where he first heard the stories, unlike the later Brothers Grimm who approached their task in a spirit of historical research as much as of popular entertainment. Nevertheless, historians of this genre acknowledge a great debt to Perrault.
The "Tales" were translated into English by Robert Samber and published in London in 1729.