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The folk tale collecting started in 17th French Salons. It was only in the Victorian era they started doing kids versions.
"bowdlerization is a pejorative term for the practice, particularly the expurgation of lewd material from books. The term derives from Thomas Bowdler's 1818 edition of William Shakespeare's plays, which he reworked in order to make them more suitable for women and children. He similarly edited Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." — Wikipedia
Tolkien and C.S. Lewis appreciated the work of Lang, his wife and friends collecting the tales, though Lang & Co weren't as bad as Thomas Bowdler, they did tone them down a bit. Nothing like as much as Disney does. Tolkien mentions them in one case lamenting that they were toned down for kids.
It's really worth collecting all the tales edited by Lang and his wife and some translated by themselves or friends. Most are on Gutenberg which also has an index to the coloured Fairy books. Ironically it wasn't Lang's main writing focus though it's what he's most famous for now.
There are other Victorian authors worth reading, some collected and edited and some wrote good new stories in the old styles (George MacDonald). Early 20th C includes the classic "The King of Elfland's Daughter" Lord Dunsany (1924). Unsurprising that Lewis was a fan of George MacDonald and I think both mention Dunsany.
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