The Snow Queen: A Tale in Seven Stories - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399578501 ISBN 13: 9780399578502

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 2016

Synopsis

Gorgeously packaged with intricate illustrations from Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annukka, this new edition of Hans Christian Andersen's well-loved fairy tale, The Snow Queen, is the perfect holiday gift for adults and children alike.

Hans Christian Andersen's magical tale of friendship and adventure is retold through the beautiful and intricate illustrations of Finnish illustrator Sanna Annukka. Cloth-bound in deep blue, with silver foil embellishments, The Snow Queen is elevated from a children's book to a unique work of art. It is an ideal gift for people of all ages.

About this title

About the Author:

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN was a Danish author who is best remembered for his fairy tales, which have been translated into 125 languages. They have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Fir Tree, The Ugly Duckling, and many more.

SANNA ANNUKKA is an English/Finnish printmaker and textile designer. She divides her time between designing collections for the Finnish textile brand Marimekko, and working on her own range of silkscreen prints and other products.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

WHICH HAS TO DO WITH A MIRROR AND ITS FRAGMENTS 

Now then! We will begin. When the story is done you shall know a great deal more than you do now. 
He was a terribly bad hobgoblin, a goblin of the very wickedest sort and, in fact, he was the devil himself. One day the devil was in a very good humour because he had just finished a mirror which had this peculiar power: everything good and beautiful that was reflected in it seemed to dwindle to almost nothing at all, while everything that was worthless and ugly became most conspicuous and even uglier than ever. In this mirror the loveliest landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the very best people became hideous, or stood on their heads and had no stomachs. Their faces were distorted beyond any recognition, and if a person had a freckle it was sure to spread until it covered both nose and mouth. 
‘That’s very funny!’ said the devil. If a good, pious thought passed through anyone’s mind, it showed in the mirror as a carnal grin, and the devil laughed aloud at his ingenious invention. 
All those who went to the hobgoblin’s school – for he had a school of his own – told everyone that a miracle had come to pass. Now, they asserted, for the very first time you could see how the world and its people really looked. They scurried about with the mirror until there was not a person alive nor a land on earth that had not been distorted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0399578501
• ISBN 13: 9780399578502
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 88
• Illustrator: Andersen Hans Christian, Annukka Sanna