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East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare example from the work of the 1920 - illustrated book.
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  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare example from the work of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare detail of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare interior highlight of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare image from the book of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare interesting detail of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare example from the work of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare image from the book of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare representative view of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare feature view of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare highlighted image of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare image of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare interesting detail of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare example from the work of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare detail of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare interior highlight of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare image from the book of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare interesting detail of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare example from the work of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare image from the book of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare representative view of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare feature view of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare highlighted image of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare image of the 1920 - illustrated book.
  • East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North by Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen, a rare interesting detail of the 1920 - illustrated book.
East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North

A luminous blend of Norwegian folklore and jewel-like, sinuous Art Nouveau plates by the master Kay Nielsen - from a century ago.

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen

East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon. Old Tales From The North

1920, London, Hodder & Stoughton

$580 USD

Overview

One of the great fairy tales of Northern Europe, East of the Sun and West of the Moon has enchanted readers for centuries with its blend of romance, adventure, and myth. Rooted in Norwegian folklore, it tells the story of a young girl who follows a white bear to a distant castle, discovers his hidden identity, and sets out on a perilous quest to rescue him, traveling - as the title suggests - to a land beyond imagination.

Inside the book

This early 1920s edition is brought vividly to life through the luminous illustrations of Kay Nielsen, the celebrated Danish artist of the Golden Age of book illustration. Nielsen’s work, with its sinuous lines, jewel-like colors, and dreamlike Nordic atmosphere, gave the tale its definitive visual form and secured his reputation alongside Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. His plates for this story are among the most iconic of his career, marrying Art Nouveau elegance with a distinctly Scandinavian sense of wonder. First published in 1914, this beautiful volume has been reprinted many times up to the present day. Nielsen’s unique style and talent for combining the eerie and fantastic with beautiful decorative effect was at its peak with this set of illustrations (Dalby, p. 90). A classic of fairy-tale literature and illustration history, this edition stands as both a testament to the enduring power of folklore and a showcase of Nielsen’s genius at the height of his career.

Why La Fenice chose it

This book feels like a fairy tale twice over: once in the story itself, and again in the way it’s illustrated. The moment you open it, you step into Nielsen’s jewel-like dreamscape, where every line curves like a spell and every color seems to glow from within.
It is both a familiar and a strange experience: an old Norwegian tale made modern by one of the great illustrators of the Golden Age. Fairy tales survive, wander, and get retold- and sometimes, like this volume, they come down to us with their own story etched into their very pages.
Condition Report

Pp. xv, 284, [2].

Dark yellow fabric hard cover, with title at spine and illustration at front cover in blue and black. Spine partially damaged. Folio A4 missing (between title page and first page, probably white). Illustration on p. 19 misplaced at p. 21 - resulting in a blank page at 19, as issued by the publisher. 24 beautiful colored illustration (in the pagination) on free leaves glued to the respective papers manually. Many b/w illustrations in the text, and decorative elements. A very subtle and uniform browning. Very beautiful copy. Reference: Grolier Children’s 100, 66. Richard Dalby, The Golden Age of Children’s Book Illustration, 2002.

Dimensions (inches): 9.5 x 7 x 1 3/4
About the author

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882), Norwegian folklorists, famed collectors of fairy tales.
Kay Nielsen (1886–1957) was a celebrated Danish illustrator of the Golden Age of illustration. Known for his delicate, Art Nouveau–inspired style, he worked on fairy-tale collections such as East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1914) and contributed to Disney’s Fantasia (1940). His work is marked by rich colors, flowing lines, and a dreamlike elegance that made him one of the most distinctive illustrators of the early 20th century.

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