ANDERSEN, H.C. BEST FAIRY TALES(ILLUSTRATED)

Best Fairy Tales

Hans Christian Andersen

With an Afterword by Ned Halley

With many illustrations by Arthur Rackham

Hans Christian Andersen was the profoundly imaginative writer and storyteller who revolutionized literature for children. He gave us the now standard versions of some traditional fairy tales – with an anarchic twist – but many of his most famous tales sprang directly from his imagination. The thirty stories here range from exuberant early works such as ‘The Tinderbox’ and ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ through poignant masterpieces such as ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘The Little Match Girl’ and ‘The Ugly Duckling’, to more subversive later tales such as ‘The Ice Maiden’ and ‘The Dryad’. This is the classic translation by Jean Hersholt.

The Collector’s Library restores traditional visual and tactile pleasures to the joy of reading.

Each book is designed to appeal to the book-lover; in every case the type is re-set, illustrations, where appropriate, are selected from sources as close to the period of the book as possible, and the books are printed on high-quality paper, section-sewn and bound in real cloth. Each book has endpapers, a satin ribbon marker, head and tailbands and gilt edges. They represent the marriage of great literature to high aesthetic and craft standards, using the technology of the 21st century to produce something classic and at the same time unmistakeably modern.

Their handy size means that they can be slipped into the pocket, handbag or briefcase, and their robust manufacture makes them ideal travelling companions as well as comfortable bedside reads at very affordable prices.

‘I cannot imagine a more heavenly present; they are so beautifully produced and illustrated.’

Jilly Cooper, novelist

‘It is delicious to see gilt edges again. ... They are far more pocket-sized than any paperback.’

Joanna Trollope, novelist