East of the Sun West of the Moon

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1914. First edition. Fine. Attractively bound in half brown morocco over marbled paper boards. Quarto. 206 pp. With twenty-five beautiful color plates (including frontispiece) from illustrations by Kay Nielsen. Small chip to paper on upper board and slight toning to endpapers. Still a bright, Fine copy of Kay Nielsen's best work and one of the most desirable books from the Golden Age of Illustration.

"By general consent, Nielsen's most spectacular and celebrated book is East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Old Tales from the North, translated from the Norwegian of Peter C. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe (devoted collectors of Scandinavian folk lore in the mid-nineteenth century). 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, The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration, p. 90)

East of the Sun and West of the Moon was Nielsen's second illustrated book, preceded by In Powder and Crinoline in 1913. Nielsen was the son of the director of the Royal Danish Theater and, after World War I, himself became principal designer for the Danish State Theater. His theater background led to years of artistic involvement in the Walt Disney Company, where his art was used in Fantasia. He also provided concept art for iconic films like Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Little Mermaid (1989), which was not released until decades after his death; and he was credited as inspiring the visual development of Disney films as recent as Frozen (2013).

Grolier Children's 100, 66. Fine.