East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North
New York: George H. Doran Company, n.d. [1922]. 23x16.5cm: 204pp. First American Edition in this format. Original mustard-colored cloth with red stamped titling to cover and spine. Orange illustrated endpapers. Original light brown dust jacket with red titling to spine and cover along with a beautiful illustration from one of the stories, also in red. There are 25 tipped-in color plates, including the frontispeice, with many black and white illustrations throughout, magnificently done by Nielsen. Bumped corners and spine with slightly discolored edges. Light toning to pages with just a bit of foxing throughout, including the endpapers and textblock edges. First gathering loose, but holding. There is a 2cm tear to plate leaf (between pages 40-41), but does not affect the plate itself. Small dark stain that affects pages 25-27. Dust jacket has some soiling to front and back, chips to the top and bottom of spine, and two closed tears to front cover. Some loss along edges. Front and rear flaps holding, but pulling away and loose, with previous owner’s tape attempting to keep it together. Protected in mylar. Overall Better than Very Good in a Very Good and exceedingly rare dust jacket.
Collection of 15 stories of Norse folklore originally written by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe. This edition containing magnificent illustrations by Kay Nielsen. The Preface states “Nielsen’s exquisite bizarrerie of his drawings aptly expresses the innermost significance of the old-world, old-wives’ fables. For to term these legends, Nursery Tales, would be to curtail them, by nine-tenths, of their interest. They are the romances of the childhood of Nations: they are the never-failing springs of sentiment, of sensation, of heroic example, from which primeval peoples drank their fill at will.” Gorgeous plates and illustrations done at Nielsen’s prime.
Price: $1,000.00
Item #10025