Beauty and the Beast did not have an art book when it was released in 1991. This 2010 book corrected that error.

From the Publisher:

The Beauty and the Beast legend has a universal appeal; the fairy tale exists in numerous versions throughout the world. During the process of being translated into a Disney film, Beauty and the Beast had several false starts. It was originally conceived as an eighteenth-century period piece, directed by the British husband-and-wife team of Richard and Jill Purdum. After some changes, two new directors, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, were put in charge of the project. Although he was initially reluctant to do another animated film after The Little Mermaid, the late Howard Ashman came on board shortly after the new directors did. Over many months, the characters and story evolved further, but there were many changes, and wrong turns. Sequences were created, reworked, cut, and added as the film gradually emerged, like a statue from a block of marble.

After all of the ups and downs, Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991 to rave reviews and record-breaking box-office business. The film was widely hailed as a technical and aesthetic breakthrough and remains the only animated feature ever to be nominated for an Oscar for best picture. This authoritative book features interviews with artists, voice-over actors, and executives, and transcripts of meetings and story sessions. Illustrations abound throughout, including sketches, caricatures, sequences of animation drawings, and preliminary artwork from discarded scenes. This book will be a must-have for any fan of the "Tale as Old as Time."

About the Author

Charles Solomon is an internationally respected critic and historian of animation. He has written on the subject for The New York Times, TV Guide, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Modern Maturity, Film Comment, and The Hollywood Reporter. His books include Tale As Old As Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast; Disney Lost and Found, The Prince of Egypt: A New Vision in Animation, The Disney That Never Was, and Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the first film book to be nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle Award.