ANDERSEN, Hans Christian. Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.
London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, undated [c. 1921].
First Rie Cramer edition, first impression. Royal octavo. Original olive-green cloth, the upper board and spine elaborately blocked in gilt and colours; untrimmed edges; pictorial endpapers; 349 pages. Illustrated by Rie Cramer with a colour frontispiece and sixteen further mounted colour plates, and by L. A. Govey with black-and-white illustrations.
An outstanding example, retaining brilliant gilt and strong turquoise, blue, red and tan colouring across the upper board and spine. The binding forms a work of illustration in itself, with its landscape of horsemen beneath a great tree continuing into further scenes along the spine.
The book belongs to the closing years of the Golden Age of Illustration, when fine printing, decorative bindings and commissioned artwork combined to create books of exceptional visual richness. Cramer’s delicately coloured plates unite fairy-tale romance with the cleaner line and restrained palette of early Art Deco, while Govey’s monochrome drawings punctuate the text.
The collection gathers thirty-two stories, including The Wild Swans, Thumbelina, The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Andersen’s tales were internationally celebrated generations before their adaptation for cinema. They remain a cornerstone of world children’s literature, shaping the modern literary fairy tale and leaving an enduring imprint upon art, theatre and popular culture.
Provenance: Anne G. Jaques, pictorial bookplate; later inscribed Anne G. Cookson, presumably the same owner after marriage. Minor age-related wear and toning are shown in the photographs.
