"THE SENSATION I FELT AS A CHILD": SIGNED LIMITED EDITION OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES, ONE OF ONLY 525 COPIES ILLUSTRATED AND SIGNED BY ARTHUR RACKHAM

ANDERSEN, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen. London: George C. Harrap, (1932). Quarto, original full vellum gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut. Housed in a custom slipcase. $5400.

Signed limited first edition of this classic fairy tale collection, number 496 of only 525 copies signed by Rackham, illustrated with 12 full-page color plates and 59 delightful in-text line cuts by him.

Rackham's publishers sent him to Denmark for a week "to collect Danish atmosphere" (Hamilton, 144) for this charmingly illustrated gift book. It collects "The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling" "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Princess and the Pea" and "The Little Match Girl," as well as many more of Hans Christian Andersen's famous tales. Rackham said the trip "did give me just that nearer view of the author's country that I needed—a view that helped me to realize again the sensation I felt as a child when I first read Andersen" (Hudson, 132-33). "The 'gift' book was really something for a child to receive… to be looked at with awe and handled with care" (Lewis, 186). Without scarce slipcase. Latimore & Haskell, 68. Riall, 177. Hamilton, 189. Hudson, 172.

Just a bit of wear to front board, which is also bowing slightly. A near-fine copy.