Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711 to 1780) was a French writer and educator, best remembered for the abridged version of Beauty and the Beast that she published in 1757. Born in Rouen, she was educated at the convent school at Ernemont and stayed on there as a teacher from 1725 to 1735. She chose not to take vows, settled in Metz, taught singing to the children at the court of the Duke of Lorraine at Lunéville and later went to London as a governess. Her long career as an educator produced about seventy volumes, among them Le Magasin des infans (1758), Le Magasin des adolescents (1760) and Instructions pour les jeunes dames (1764), written as instructional handbooks for parents and teachers of pupils from childhood to adolescence, mostly girls. She was one of the first writers to use folktales as a moral and educational tool, and in her other writings she argued for reform of the roles of women in society.