Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales were published in installments beginning in 1835, when the first slim booklet (Eventyr, fortalte for Børn — Fairy Tales, Told for Children) appeared from the Copenhagen publisher C.A. Reitzel. That first collection contained “The Tinderbox,” “Little Claus and Big Claus,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and “Little Ida’s Flowers.” Over the next four decades, Andersen would produce 156 fairy tales and stories, issuing them in regular collections that made him the most famous Danish writer in the world and one of the most translated authors in any language.
The early tales (1835–1842) draw on folk tradition — Andersen adapts Danish popular stories, adding psychological complexity and literary polish to material that existed in oral form. But increasingly, from the mid-1840s onward, he invented his own stories entirely, creating what he called “eventyr og historier” (fairy tales and stories) that owed nothing to folk tradition and everything to his own imagination. “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Little Match Girl,” “The Nightingale,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes” — these are original literary creations, not adaptations.
What distinguishes Andersen’s tales from the Grimm brothers’ collections (which appeared a generation earlier) is their psychological depth and emotional complexity. The Grimms collected and preserved; Andersen created. His stories are about loneliness, exclusion, the pain of being different, the cruelty of social hierarchies, and the consolation (sometimes) of art. The Little Mermaid suffers and dies; the Ugly Duckling is tormented before finding beauty; the Steadfast Tin Soldier is melted in the fire. These are not comfortable stories — they acknowledge the reality of suffering and the impossibility of easy redemption.
Andersen’s prose style in Danish is remarkable: simple, conversational, rhythmic, with a quality of spoken narration that makes the stories feel as if they are being told aloud. His influence on children’s literature is incalculable — he essentially invented the modern literary fairy tale — but his tales are equally literature for adults, and their melancholy, their wit, and their unflinching honesty about human nature have kept them alive for nearly two centuries.
Collecting Andersen’s Fairy Tales
The bibliographic history of Andersen’s tales is complex: they appeared in numerous installments and collections during his lifetime, and complete editions were published in Danish, German, and English from the 1840s onward.
Market values:
- First Danish editions (individual pamphlets, 1835–1872): $2,000–$50,000+ depending on title and condition
- Early English translations (Mary Howitt, 1846; Caroline Peachey, 1861): $200–$1,000
- Victorian illustrated editions (various): $50–$300
- Arthur Rackham illustrated edition (1932): $100–$400
- Modern illustrated editions: $10–$50