Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who is best known for his literary fairy tales.. He was born on April 2, 1805, in Odense, Denmark, to poor parents. Although he wrote plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is most remembered for his fairy tales such as “The Little Mermaid” and “The Ugly Duckling“. Many of his stories remain classics of the genre and have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films. Some of his other Fairy Tales include “The Nightingale,” “The Snow Queen,” “The emperor’s New Clothes,” and “The Little Match Girl.”
Hans Christian Andersen’s first collection of fairy tales is called “Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection” (Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling.). The collection consists of nine fairy tales and was published in a series of three installments by C. A. Reitzel between May 1835 and April 1837.. The nine Fairy tales in the collection are:
- “The Tinderbox”
- “Little Claus and Big Claus”
- “The Princess and the Pea”
- “Little Ida’s Flowers”
- “Thumbelina”
- “The Naughty Boy”
- “The Traveling Companion”
- “The Little Mermaid”
- “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
A title page, a table of contents, and a preface by Andersen were published in the volume also.
Information on the titles of the fairy tales in Hans Christian Andersen’s second and third collections is not available. However, it is known that Andersen published a total of 168 fairy tales. The label “told for children” (fortalte for Børn) disappears after the first six booklets.
In 1875, at the age of 70, he died of liver cancer. Andersen was internationally revered at the time of his death. the Danish Government paid him an annual stipend as a “national treasure.” There is a Hans Christian Anderson museum in Odense, Denmark to commemorate his life and writings.