The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen

I bought this book for a friend of mine. I'm currently teaching English Literature in South Korea. I've loved fairy tales since childhood, and I introduced my friend (who's actually an ex-student of mine) to the wonderful, yet dark originals a while back. She now loves them too. I bought this book for her. It's beautiful. The pages are of a nice thickness, and the words are a good size. The annotations are very useful for someone, like my friend, who would like to know a bit the context behind some of these tales. It is also beautifully illustrated. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good book on Andersen's works.

This book is absolutely fantastic! I'm beginning to collect all of the Annotated books by W. W. Norton & Company. I highly recommend these books. They are very informative and interesting works of art. If you love all of the classic stories than please don't pass by this book. It is a MUST have for anyone that is in to collecting books. Beautiful!

i ordered this because i remember how much i loved these tales as a child. it is a beautiful book in a beautiful package and took me back many years.

Bought for future use by nephew's 4 year old daughter - nephew says it is a beautiful book, and he will read it for his own pleasure until she is old enough to decide for herself.

This book, immense as it is, brings these stories context. My childhood did not include these stories but growing up with Disney movies and such, it is hard to never have some exposure to them. As an adult, after many years of only knowing what Disney show me,I wanted to find out for myself. Personally, I love having more information than less. The annotations bring me needed context of the story and its sources. The book is beautiful, well bound and perfect for me. Never reading these stories before, I found myself really enjoying them and looking forward to reading them to my children.

Bought this book for my daughter who has several from the series. I have NEVER been disappointed with any of them, this one was no exception. It is beautiful from the book jacket, cover, type face and illustrations. It is well worth the price. I will be buying more for her.

For anyone who likes this genre, who likes H.C. Andersen, this book is a treat, well worth the cost. My understanding is that this was used as the basis for Dennis Anfuso's "Oz House." I can see that. Andersen lends himself to the kind of plastic reimagining you'll find in books like that. I love the rarer tales and the thoughtful, serious illumination on them done be the author.

really lovely design, a work of art, i appreciate the attention and love that went into this tribute to Andersen!

great book

Lovely quality, large book. Gift for new baby from Danish Great Grandmother. A Keepsake copy.

I bought this book for a friend of mine. I'm currently teaching English Literature in South Korea. I've loved fairy tales since childhood, and I introduced my friend (who's actually an ex-student of mine) to the wonderful, yet dark originals a while back. She now loves them too. I bought this book for her. It's beautiful. The pages are of a nice thickness, and the words are a good size. The annotations are very useful for someone, like my friend, who would like to know a bit the context behind some of these tales. It is also beautifully illustrated. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good book on Andersen's works.

This book is absolutely fantastic! I'm beginning to collect all of the Annotated books by W. W. Norton & Company. I highly recommend these books. They are very informative and interesting works of art. If you love all of the classic stories than please don't pass by this book. It is a MUST have for anyone that is in to collecting books. Beautiful!

i ordered this because i remember how much i loved these tales as a child. it is a beautiful book in a beautiful package and took me back many years.

Bought for future use by nephew's 4 year old daughter - nephew says it is a beautiful book, and he will read it for his own pleasure until she is old enough to decide for herself.

This book, immense as it is, brings these stories context. My childhood did not include these stories but growing up with Disney movies and such, it is hard to never have some exposure to them. As an adult, after many years of only knowing what Disney show me,I wanted to find out for myself. Personally, I love having more information than less. The annotations bring me needed context of the story and its sources. The book is beautiful, well bound and perfect for me. Never reading these stories before, I found myself really enjoying them and looking forward to reading them to my children.

Bought this book for my daughter who has several from the series. I have NEVER been disappointed with any of them, this one was no exception. It is beautiful from the book jacket, cover, type face and illustrations. It is well worth the price. I will be buying more for her.

For anyone who likes this genre, who likes H.C. Andersen, this book is a treat, well worth the cost. My understanding is that this was used as the basis for Dennis Anfuso's "Oz House." I can see that. Andersen lends himself to the kind of plastic reimagining you'll find in books like that. I love the rarer tales and the thoughtful, serious illumination on them done be the author.

really lovely design, a work of art, i appreciate the attention and love that went into this tribute to Andersen!

great book

Lovely quality, large book. Gift for new baby from Danish Great Grandmother. A Keepsake copy.

I purchased this book to replace my favorite childhood book, which I had lost over the years. This edition is lovely. It also contains interesting facts about Andersen and beautiful illustrations.

Maria Tatar—folklore scholar extraordinaire—has masterfully re-translated Andersen's stories... Insightful, clear, informative, entertaining, powerful... Fairy tale magic infuses our modern psychology. Stunning...

Bought it for class, but its one of few "textbooks" I will make a point of keeping. Great analysis and introductions for each tale and thoughtfully put together.

Nice compendium of Andersen's work Just skip the annotations.

I had one of these books and after several moves it was lost. Now my kids have childern and they remember the book.I glad I found it so they can save it and read to the kids. It's a must for reading to the grandkids.

Love the Norton annotated series! The Anderson fairy tale classics volume is no exception. Great easy-to-read text layout, good graphics, and the usual annotations make it a fun read. A fairy tale for everyone!

Glad I bought it.

liked it a lot.

I love that the publishers used illustrations from various prior editions. This edition has many of the stories, not just a few.

Great book. Well wort the price, at any price. This is a great book.

I learned things about Hans Christian Andersen that will forever change the way I regard his fairy tales.

Oh, how I adore this book! I'm huge fan of fairy tales and these enchanting stories and illustrations to boot! Two thumbs up!

An excellent collection for anyone interested in Hans Christian Andersen. Delightful presentation! The text has excellent illustrations! Highly recommended for any library or personal collection!

Great!

I absolutely love this book! It is a perfect companion to The Annotated Grimms. The illustrations are amazing and the sidenotes are so interesting. Maria Tatar knows her stuff!

wonderful stories

Good time. Item in perfect condition. Thanks!

This is a lovely book with an old-fashioned flavor. The pictures are beautiful and child-friendly. It is sized as a large in-the-lap story book. I can imagine a child or grandchild gazing wide-eyed at this book while being read to outloud.

Cool.

Very good quality and content

Great classic stories for kids...and you! The symbology of lifes lessons is here in plentiful stories.If you are an adult you can use the annotated content to understand the meanings, and you might learn what to do and not to do in future!

This is excellent for an adult. Children just don't understand the old fairy tales generally. They have grown up with Disney happy endings.

Even though these stories are very good, the numerous illustrations tie in with the stories, and the annotations are informative and thought provoking, there are two problems with this book: First problem: Amazon mixes the hard back and paperback versions in the same listing. If you order from an associate, be sure to email them with the question about the binding if this is important to you. Second problem: Red ink is used for the annotations. This is the worst possible color for reading. It produced reading fatigue, especially in men and older people. Have you ever noticed that Bibles with red ink are owned by people who never read them?

I bought this book for my dad.

An excellent example of Norton's annotated series, this edition contains what we have come to expect from this publisher, Anderson's goblins and mermaids hopping through the pages, the margins offering historical context, the influence of culture and an interpretation of the selections that hint of the darker nature of fairy tales. Translated by Maria Tatar and Julie K Allen, these tales are lushly illustrated, ink sketches, black and white drawings and full-color renderings that pique the curiosity of young and old alike, "Tales for Children", "Tales for Adults", "Biographies", "Anderson's Readers" and "Bibliography". Children's selections include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Little Mermaid" and "The Wild Swan", segueing into the more sophisticated stories for adults, "The Red Shoes", "The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf", "The Goblin and the Grocer" and "The Bell". Putting the collection in context, the Introduction, "Denmark's Perfect Wizard", speaks to Anderson's genius, a Dane born over 200 years ago. Anderson tackles provocative subjects: compassion ("The Little Match Girl"); hypocrisy ("The Emperor's New Clothes"); and the necessity of hope ("The Ugly Duckling"). Sparking imagination through the texture and color of language, darker issues are dressed in sparkling prose and brilliant hue ("a purple flower with light streaming from its calyx"). It is such language that draws young and old into the world of the fairy tale, subtle lessons on the vagaries of human behavior and the undiluted power of storytelling as a means of universal communication. Evocative illustrations and fascinating annotations offer a depth of perspective that is common to this series, an exploration of social consciousness and tales couched in the visual and the arcane, a juxtaposition of morality and fantasy that allows the reader to challenge preconceptions and enter the world of expanded imagination, because some stories never grow old. Luan Gaines/ 2007.

Many people dismiss Hans Christian Anderson as a mere author of now outdated children's stories. Anderson, as this volume of his annotated stories makes clear, was a poet, folklorist, historian, and commentator as well as a children's writer. In fact, many of his stories were written for adults, not children, and even those aimed at the young have side passages and comments which were meant for grown up men and women to hear and ponder. This volume contains a good sampling of both of these types of Anderson's stories. Each story is copiously annotated, a real pleasure for the modern reader who may not recognize references to customs and people now far in the past. There are many beautiful illustrations from the multiple published versions of the stories. Most importantly, the stories have been newly translated from the original Danish, so that as much of the original emphasis and focus is present as possible. This annotated volume not only allows the reader a fresh view of some famous stories, it also makes the enormously complex original author much more comprehensible and even more likeable.