Stories from Hans Andersen (Signed limited edition)
- SIGNED
- London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1911
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1911. First thus. Fine. Edition Deluxe, no. 20 of 100 numbered copies printed on Japanese Vellum and signed by the artist. A fine large quarto (12 1/8 x 9 3/4 inches; 309 x 249 mm.). viii, 250, [2] pp. Mounted color frontispiece, with descriptive tissue guard printed in black, and twenty-seven mounted color plates (included in pagination). Plates framed with thick pale green line border and accompanied by guard leaves printed in pale green with stylized pineapples on the recto and border of snowflakes above descriptive caption on the verso. Text pages with pale green snowflake borders at top and bottom. All leaves framed with double pale green lines. Original dark chocolate brown pigskin pictorially stamped with three-peacock design and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine, with Hodder & Stoughton gilt-stamped at spine foot. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Endpapers printed in pale green with repeated design of stylized peacocks.
During his lifetime, Hans Christian Andersen, whose fairy tales have become a classic, was second only to Charles Dickens as the most popular author in the Western world. Here, his famed narratives get the artistic treatment of Dulac, who brings characters to life for the reader. A stunning copy, unique, and arguably the finest copy of the Deluxe Edition. The binding and endpapers do not conform to Hughey's description, and appear to be unique to this handsome copy. As she notes, the pigskin binding, ("brandy colour," not dark chocolate-brown, as here), should only have two thin gilt rules as frame, gilt lettering, date 1911 on spine, and white endpapers, not illustrated as here and in the trade edition. Hughey, who had only seen two copies of the Edition De Luxe, William Randolph Hearst's and another viewed at a Washington book fair, suggested that this copy was “done close to original printing time, November 1911. There were a lot of oddball copies done then...The title was sold very quickly - all sold by December 1911.” The endpapers here were available at the time of the trade edition, and it is possible that someone or the firm did this for copy #20. Hughey also said that this “copy's binding design on front cover is clearly an adaptation of the endpapers but I do not think by Dulac as it does not appear in any of his other editions of Hans Andersen's work. Someone may not have liked the plain cover..." This copy is better for the personalization.
French-born anglophile Edmond Dulac (1882-1953) was one of the most prized artists of the “golden age” of book illustration. A gifted artist, especially in the medium of watercolor, Dulac’s ability to render luxurious detail and subtle emotions is otherworldly. He is best known for his illustrations for books and magazines, although he also designed for the stage and wrote music; in moments of financial insecurity he produced serialized cartoons and became an authority on postage stamp design (White).
Hughey 27. Fine.
During his lifetime, Hans Christian Andersen, whose fairy tales have become a classic, was second only to Charles Dickens as the most popular author in the Western world. Here, his famed narratives get the artistic treatment of Dulac, who brings characters to life for the reader. A stunning copy, unique, and arguably the finest copy of the Deluxe Edition. The binding and endpapers do not conform to Hughey's description, and appear to be unique to this handsome copy. As she notes, the pigskin binding, ("brandy colour," not dark chocolate-brown, as here), should only have two thin gilt rules as frame, gilt lettering, date 1911 on spine, and white endpapers, not illustrated as here and in the trade edition. Hughey, who had only seen two copies of the Edition De Luxe, William Randolph Hearst's and another viewed at a Washington book fair, suggested that this copy was “done close to original printing time, November 1911. There were a lot of oddball copies done then...The title was sold very quickly - all sold by December 1911.” The endpapers here were available at the time of the trade edition, and it is possible that someone or the firm did this for copy #20. Hughey also said that this “copy's binding design on front cover is clearly an adaptation of the endpapers but I do not think by Dulac as it does not appear in any of his other editions of Hans Andersen's work. Someone may not have liked the plain cover..." This copy is better for the personalization.
French-born anglophile Edmond Dulac (1882-1953) was one of the most prized artists of the “golden age” of book illustration. A gifted artist, especially in the medium of watercolor, Dulac’s ability to render luxurious detail and subtle emotions is otherworldly. He is best known for his illustrations for books and magazines, although he also designed for the stage and wrote music; in moments of financial insecurity he produced serialized cartoons and became an authority on postage stamp design (White).
Hughey 27. Fine.