This is the first published version of Beauty and the Beast, written by the French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in the mid-18th century and translated by James Robinson Planché. It is a novel-length story intended for adult readers, addressing the issues of the marriage system of the day in which women had no right to choose their husband or to refuse to marry.  There is also a wealth of rich back story as to how the Prince became cursed and revelations about Beauty's parentage, which fail to appear in subsequent versions of the now classic fairy tale.