Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales by Harry Clarke

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales by Harry Clarke

In 1916 George Harrap published an edition of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen which included specially commissioned illustrations from a new young Irish illustrator, Harry Clarke. Although previously commissioned to provide illustrations for two other publishing projects, this was the first time Clarke’s work had appeared in print. His talent was quickly acknowledged and he became recognised as one of the key illustrators during the golden age of gift-book illustration. In all, he created 16 full-colour and 24 monochrome illustrations for this edition. Although many of these have been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland, they will not be familiar to many modern readers.

For this new collection, twenty of Andersen’s best loved tales have been re-written and with Clarke’s fabulous illustrations will create a wonderful gift book for children young and old.

Although now best known for his stained glass work, Harry Clarke (1889-1931) first found fame as a book illustrator. His edition of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen was followed by illustrated editions of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, The Years at the Spring, Charles Perrault's Fairy Tales of Perrault, and Goethe's Faust.