SNOW WHITE
ALTERNATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DISGUISED QUEEN/PEDLAR WOMAN AND HER LACES

Selected by: Kay E. Vandergrift

This page presents one or more Snow White illustrations copied from various editions used in this educational exercise. To preserve copyright law, only one image [within fair-use doctrine] has been used from any one of the books remaining in U.S. and/or British copyright. Every book image has been identified so that, hopefully, the reader will turn to the original for greater clarification and study. The reader should note that scanning of images does not capture the quality of the originals, nor the exact size, and should recognize this in evaluating the illustrations.

VISUAL IMAGES: QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

The questions or comments below are simply to encourage the user to think about the illustrations; other questions and comments may come to mind that are equally valid. You are encouraged to compare additional editions of Snow White to see how this incident is portrayed.

  1. Note the position of Snow White and the pedlar woman in each version; does this positioning alter your sense of fear or concern?
  2. How does Hyman portray the role of pedlar woman?
  3. Is Snow White so distracted by her desire for the objects the pedlar offers that she fails to see the pedlar herself truly?
  4. Is Snow White wearing shoes? Do shoes have any special significance in this tale?
  5. Why do you suppose the Queen/pedlar is pictured as "old?"
  6. Note the lack of details in the Robertson illustration as compared to the Dennis and Hyman pages. Does this alter our perceptions of the two women?
  7. Note details of costume, household items, and architecture in each illustration which give clues to setting or culture.
  8. Do you believe there is a special significance in this lacing of a female?
  9. Are there contemporary images or practices which parallel what is pictured here?

Grimm's Fairy Tales. Translated by L.L. Weedon. Illus. by Ada Dennis and E. Stuart Hardy. London: Ernest Nister, [1898], frontispiece.

The full image is 146 K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

Snow White By the Brothers Grimm. Freely Translated from the German by Paul Heins. Illus. by Trina Schart Hyman. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1974.

The full image is 89 K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Retold by Caroline Repchuk. Illus. by Brian Robertson. Bristol, England: Parragon, 1995.

The full image is 53 K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

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Created January 6, 1997 and is continously revised