1954 Henning Jensen Binding - The Fairy Tale of My Life, Hans Christian Andersen
An exquisite large-folio first English edition of Andersen’s own life story, beautifully illustrated and dressed in a superb Danish binding by Henning Jensen of Copenhagen.
Author: Hans Christian Andersen.
Title: The Fairy Tale of My Life.
Publisher: New York, British Book Centre Inc.; London, Maxsons & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.; Copenhagen, Nyt Nordisk Forlag / Arnold Busck, 1954. First English Edition.
Language: Text in English. Translated by W. Glyn Jones, based on the Danish text of H. Topsøe-Jensen’s annotated edition of 1951.
Size: Folio, 13" x 10".
Pages: 350 pages.
Binding: Near-fine exquisite brown half-calf leather binding by Henning Jensen, Copenhagen, with marbled paper boards in tones of blue, green, and violet, raised bands, gilt decoration to spine, green morocco title label, and leather corners. Binder’s small gilt crest on the last endpaper, as shown. Hinges fine. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Fine content, bright, tight, and clean.
Illustrations: Beautifully illustrated in colour by Niels Larsen Stevns, with colour plates reproduced from watercolours held by the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
Estimate: USD $450–$650.
The book: A handsome and impressive First English Edition of The Fairy Tale of My Life, Hans Christian Andersen’s celebrated autobiography. In this work, Andersen recounts the astonishing arc of his life, from poverty and obscurity in Odense to international literary fame. The title itself captures Andersen’s own sense that his life had unfolded with the unlikely wonder of one of his tales.
This large folio edition was designed with unusual elegance, combining generous typography, wide margins, and expressive colour illustrations by Niels Larsen Stevns. The present copy is made especially desirable by its exquisite custom binding by Henning Jensen of Copenhagen, whose restrained gilt spine and richly marbled boards give the volume a refined Scandinavian character worthy of the text.
The author: Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was the great Danish writer whose fairy tales became part of world literature. Among his best-loved stories are The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and The Little Match Girl. His autobiography reveals the personal struggles, ambitions, disappointments, and extraordinary resilience behind the public figure.
The illustrator: Niels Larsen Stevns (1864–1941) was a Danish painter and illustrator known for his vivid colour sense and expressive modern style. His illustrations for this edition bring Andersen’s memories into a luminous visual world, less decorative than deeply atmospheric, with scenes that feel both intimate and dreamlike.