ANDERSEN, Hans Christian (author). H. Oskar SOMMER (translator). Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. London; Published by George Allen. 1893.
8vo.; 2 volumes; publisher's olive green cloth pictorially blocked in darker green with a full-size design to upper covers by Gaskin, vignettes to lower boards, and gilt lettered spines, top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed, green floral endpapers; pp. xii + 398; xii + 426; xii + 426; with woodcut title-page vignettes, woodcut frontispieces to each volume and 100 Arts-and-Crafts woodcuts by Gaskin throughout, presented as full-, and half-page plates, smaller vignettes, tailpieces and decorative initials; a sound set with external rubbing, fading and scuffing to spines rendering the lettering inconsistently legible, yellowish mark to spine of volume II, wear (but no splitting or fraying) to spine ends, volume II with bruises to forecorners; both volumes internally good with a neat, and early, ownership name to free endpaper of volume II, volume I with scattered foxing to prelims and final leaves and toning to uncut edges but otherwise clean throughout; volume II with occasional light marking and dusting internally with a few small stains to inner gutters, one upper corner crease, 5 leaves carelessly opened with marginal losses to fore-edge margins, catching text on page 91 with loss of about 5 words; an elusive set.
First editions. A comprehensive collection of nearly 100 of Andersen's fairy tales including the most popular, "The Snow Queen"; "The Emperor's New Suit"; "The Little Mermaid"; "Thumbelina"; "The Ugly Duckling"; "The Little Match-Girl"; "The Wild Swans" and "The Red Shoes".
Arthur Joseph Gaskin RBSA (1862-1928), with his wife Georgie Gaskin, was a leading member of the Birmingham Group of Artists. He worked as an illustrator and designer, practising in the Arts-and-Crafts style having studied, under Edward R. Taylor at the Birmingham School of Art.
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