Old Tales from the North by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
IN ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S BOX WITH AUTOGRAPH LETTER
East of the Sun and West of the Moon Old Tales from the North by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
Hodder & Stoughton, 1914.
First edition. Large 4to. Blue cloth with gilt lettering and design, in the remarkably rare original publisher's box, with an ALS from Nielsen to Liberal politician, scholar and collector of medieval mansucripts Allan Heywood Bright tipped in after the front endpaper. Pictorial endpapers with striking black and white design. Twenty-five stunning colour plates mounted under captioned tissue guards. There are also many line drawings and chapter heading designs. A fine copy, incredibly well preserved by the original box. There are just a couple tiny marks to the head of the spine, occasional light foxing to the page edges and margins and a small abrasion to one plate mount, but the cloth and gilt are very bright and all plates are perfect. The box is in very good condition indeed, clean and bright, with corners strengthened.
Allan Heywood Bright, as well as being a Liberal politician at the turn of the twentieth century, was a noted collector of books and medieval manuscripts. In his letter to Bright, Nielsen apologises for taking so long to respond to him, but says he is looking forward to an upcoming trip to visit Bright and his wife, "I look forward to see you and your dear old books, and to have a lecture on medieval illumination."
This work is Nielsen's most highly acclaimed, illustrating the fairy tales of his native Scandinavia. His images are vivid and striking. Copies so well preserved are uncommon, and those with the original box are very rare indeed.
Stock ID: 38775
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