Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2025 Issue

“LIFE is an Everlasting Fairy Tale” – Hans Christian Andersen

H. C. Andersen. The father of the modern fairy tale

H. C. Andersen. The father of the modern fairy tale

An Update: Recently I received a call from an old friend, Justin Schiller, whose collection of Hans Christian Andersen material was heading into the rooms at Bonhams in New York. With barely a week to go, I looked through his catalogue. It contained 116 lots, intensively focused on first editions, manuscript and signed material. I wrote a brief piece and posted it on Rare Book Monthly.

 

For a focused collector or a collecting institution it was quite an opportunity.

 

When all was said and done, the sale did well but would have done better if America wasn’t under its current political and economic cloud.

 

The sale brought $202,022.40 all in. Twenty-Six percent of the lots were left unsold.

 

If you wished you had bid, it’s worthwhile to check with Bonhams. In some cases, unsold lots

can be purchased as a post-sale before the material is packed up.

 

Justin Schiller, when asked how he felt about the sale, said he hopes the new buyers appreciate

the material as much he did. It was a satisfying collection built over thirty years of buying

selectively.

 

Here’s a link to Bonhams:

 

Father on the Modern Fairy Tale

 

Galoshes of Fortune

 

The Flying Trunk 

 

His most famous fairy tales include The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Red Shoes, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Match Girl, and Thumbelina.

 

Bon chance!

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Ian Fleming. Casino Royale, London, 1953. First edition, first printing. $58,610.
    Sotheby’s: A.A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard. Winnie The Pooh, United Kingdom, 1926. First UK edition. $17,580.
    Sotheby’s: Ernest Hemingway. Three Stories And Ten Poems, [Paris], (1923). First edition of Hemingway’s first published book. $75,000.
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: L. Frank Baum. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, 1900. First edition. $27,500.
    Sotheby’s: Man Ray. Photographs By Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, Hartford, 1934. $7,860.
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Pennant. Zoologia Britannica, Augsburg, 1771. $49,125.
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