All of the fairy tales in this book were written and read during the nineteenth century–a very few may still have been read in the early twentieth century–but any surviving copies have  been abandoned in dark corners of libraries and second-hand bookshops; none has hitherto been considered worthy of republication. This lack may, in some cases, be justifiable, but nevertheless every text has an important place in literary history as a contribution to, and a result of, the time in which it was written. The fairy tales in this collection are presented, therefore, as texts which are indicators, instigators, or inhibitors of social change.