A Centenary Edition.

ANDERSEN, Hans; R. P. KEIGWIN, [Trans.]; Gwen RAVERAT [Illus.]C

FIRST UK PRINTING. The University Press, Cambridge: 1935

Small 8vo., navy publisher's cloth, double ruled border to upper board with circular portrait device of the author; lettered and lined in lighter blue to spine; together in the scarce pictorial dustwrapper reproducing coloured frontis woodcut by Raverat; full colour illustration facing title, repeat portrait device to title, and a further 34 charming woodcut illustrations, some full page, as well as three decorative initials; THE BOOK a very good to near-fine copy, the binding clean and vibrant, with endpapers mildly warped and offset, a couple of small abrasions and spots to outer edges and prelims; the good to very good DUSTWRAPPER seldom found at all, here evenly toned, spotted, and creased, a couple of tiny closed tears, and some chipping to spine tips (not affecting lettering); unrestored. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition thus. A new translation by R. P. Keigwin, and a collection of four classic fairy tales including 'The Tinder-Box', 'Little Claus and Big Claus', 'The Princess and the Pea' and 'Little Ida's Flowers'. Published to celebrate the hundred-year anniversary of the earliest installment of the fairy tale collection, each chapter here has been carefully chosen to reflect the diverse nature of the writer, with some autobiographical, and others reflecting on the theme of money and Andersen's view of women. The stories are wonderfully offset with illustrations by Gwen Raverat, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin and one of the founders of the Society of Wood Engravers. "Happy are those who, in the belief that they are writing for children, have appealed to humanity at large, for they are the kings of the earth". Scarce in the dustwrapper.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good