Very pretty Beauty and the Beast color book with too many wall-paper style designs printed both sides of the page

Beauty and the Beast: A Coloring Book (Classic Coloring Book)

By: Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve

Rating: 4 of 5

I was very curious to see this coloring book as it gives credit to Walter Crane for the illustrations. Unfortunately, while the story has quotations from the original story, I don’t believe that the illustrations are by Mr. Crane. They are from Shutterstock, Eliz Hyseyin, Ian Cunlifee and Lydia Coventry.

If there is any use of Mr. Crane’s artwork, it is miniscule and unrecognizable. The book even gives bio information to Mr. Crane which is also very misleading. While I believe it is completely incorrect to imply that Mr. Crane’s work is included, the designs are very pretty. The publisher should correct the misinformation immediately.
The 96 pages of designs are detailed and many contain intricate and small areas to color. You will need small nib pens/markers and sharp pencils for those areas.
Many of the designs spread across two pages with integral portions of the design being lost into the binding area. In my copy of the book, the pages line up fairly well.
What bothers me a bit is the number of wall-paper style (repeating) designs. Twenty-eight pages of the book are in this style with several others fairly close (slight detail changes on gloves, etc. keep them from being totally repetitive.) That is close to one third of the book. If the publishers had placed these repetitive designs behind the more unique designs throughout, I could have treated them as waste pages and thus be allowed to use color medium that bleeds through the page (see below.) But that was not the case.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
96 pages of detailed and intricate designs based on Beauty and the Beast. Includes many pages which include design elements licensed through Shutterstock rather than designs unique to this book. Also includes many repetitive wall-paper style designs.
Printed both sides of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly smooth and non-perforated
Designs merge into the binding
There are many designs which spread across two pages
Sewn Binding. You can remove several pages in whole at one time by snipping several threads. I won’t do that as it will disturb the continuity of the design.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens do not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens require additional drying time.
Colored pencils work okay with this paper. It is slightly smooth which made blending with a blending stick a little more difficult (slightly smeary.) I was able to get good pigment and to layer colors well. I tested both wax and oil based pencils with similar results.