Four Tales from Hans Andersen

First UK Printing of this illustrated edition published by The University Press, Cambridge, UK in 1935. Small 8vo., navy publisher's cloth, double ruled border to upper board with circular portrait device of the author; lettered and lined in lighter blue to spine; together in the scarce pictorial wrapper reproducing coloured frontis woodcut by Raverat; full colour illustration facing title, repeat portrait device to title, and a further 34 charming woodcut illustrations, some full page, as well as three decorative initials; The BOOK is in near Fine condition. The binding clean and vibrant, with endpapers mildly offset, minor spotting to the outer edges and prelims; the Very Good++ WRAPPER seldom found at all, here evenly toned, spotted, and mildly creased, a couple of tiny closed tears, and some slight losses to the spine tips (not affecting lettering); unrestored. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. A new translation by R. P. Keigwin, and a collection of four classic fairy tales including 'The Tinder-Box', 'Little Claus and Big Claus', 'The Princess and the Pea' and 'Little Ida's Flowers'. Published to celebrate the hundred-year anniversary of the earliest instalment of the fairy tale collection. Each chapter here has been carefully chosen to reflect the diverse nature of the writer, with some autobiographical, and others reflecting on the theme of money and Andersen's view of women. The stories are wonderfully offset with illustrations by Gwen Raverat, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin and one of the founders of the Society of Wood Engravers. "Happy are those who, in the belief that they are writing for children, have appealed to humanity at large, for they are the kings of the earth". Scarce in the wrapper.…