Who wrote the earlier 1740 French version of the Beauty and the Beast story?

Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve wrote the earlier 1740 French version of the Beauty and the Beast story.

Villeneuve's tale appeared in La Jeune Américaine, et les contes marins in 1740. Her version was much longer than the familiar classroom and storybook adaptations, containing extensive background about the characters and their families.

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont later published a considerably shorter version in 1756. That retelling became the form most influential in modern European children’s literature and is the direct literary source most often associated with later adaptations.

The two authors are therefore easy to mix up: Villeneuve created the earlier, expansive literary version, while Beaumont condensed and reshaped the story for an educational collection. Neither writer originated every element of the broader folktale tradition, which includes related stories from oral storytelling.