Snowdrop

Snowdrop, illustrated by Charles Robinson

Snowdrop or Snow White as most people know it, is another fairy tale from The Big Book of Fairy Tales, published by Blackie & Son, London in 1911. Charles Robinson created seven line drawings (including a decorative capital letter) and one full-page color illustration.

It's interesting to note that the artist didn't make any picture of the prince as the rescuer. There is also no scene with the famous glass coffin or the hunter who is ordered to kill the beautiful Snowdrop. The title character actually doesn't really dominate in these pictures. The creator's attention is equally distributed to her, her nemesis, and the dwarfs who got the color illustration all by themselves.

The title image above and the decorative one below both portray the main character somehow confined in the moment, maybe seen as a victim of the circumstances. It is by no means her fault that her father remarried a witch, obsessed with her beauty, and, of course, that she became more beautiful than her stepmother.

There is one popular scene among illustrators missing as well: the queen, Snowdrop's mother, who yearns for a child and pricks her finger to get an idea about a girl with white skin, black hair, and red cheeks.

Her wish is fulfilled just to be followed by the queen's death and Snow White becomes an orphan.

After a while, Snowdrop's father remarried. His new wife is beautiful but her character is nasty. Instead of getting a new mother to his daughter, he brought home a death threat. She is obsessed with her look.

 
The new queen spends a lot of time in front of the mirror. This is not an ordinary mirror. It can talk and it can see things that are not in front of it.

Every day it tells the evil queen how beautiful is she and always adds that she is the most beautiful in the kingdom.

Until one day. The queen is still beautiful but her stepdaughter is more beautiful than her.

The queen is furious. Such a message is not a mere finding. It's also a reminder of the transience of the queen's beauty and her time. She is past her prime and somebody else will occupy her space. Knowing that this one is her stepdaughter is even more painful.

She wants Snowdrop dead and she orders the huntsman to take her into the woods to kill her.

Fortunately for the girl, he followed only the first half of the orders.

Snowdrop was taken to the woods and left there. She found a house where there was some food and drink. Then she falls asleep.

The house in the forest belongs to the dwarfs. They spend all day in the mine and the house is empty. But suddenly they find a stranger in their home. A beautiful girl who is also a princess.

A princess on the run.

They welcome Snow White and she can stay there. They believe she will be safe from the stepmother's anger.

But they are wrong. The evil queen still has a magic mirror. After a while, she is informed about her stepdaughter who is even more beautiful than before.

So the wicked witch changes into an old lady selling things and gets to the house in the woods.

The queen's attempt to kill her stepdaughter by tying the straps of the corset too tightly failed.

Her next attempt is a comb pushed into the scalp. That one is saved by the dwarfs too.

But the third attempt - with poisonous apple, works.

The dwarfs are helpless in this case and prove incompetent just like Snowdrop's father or the hunter, who also couldn't protect her.

Fortunately, the dwarfs love the look at the Snowdrop so much that they put her into the glass coffin. This way, she gets another chance, which comes in the form of a handsome prince.

He initiates her third return to life and the happy couple marries.

The wicked queen is cruelly punished, and Snowdrop is finally safe.

As we already mentioned, the selection of illustrations is somehow unconventional, which is kind of understandable if we think how huge was this book of fairy tales.

If you want to enjoy even more illustrations of Snowdrop (Snow White), here is a selection of vintage postcards with six scenes from the tale pictured by German illustrator Otto Kubel:

https://otto-kubel.mystrikingly.com/blog/snow-white