Harry Clarke – Illustrations for Andersen Fairy Tales 1916

Harry Clarke (March 17, 1889 – January 6, 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.

Harry Clarke the younger was exposed to art (and in particular Art Nouveau) at an early age. He went to school in Belvedere College in Dublin. By his late teens, he was studying stained glass at the Dublin Art School. While there his The Consecration of St. Mel, Bishop of Longford, by St. Patrick won the gold medal for stained glass work in the 1910 Board of Education National Competition.

Hans Christian Andersen (2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875), in Denmark usually called H.C. Andersen, was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen’s popularity is not limited to children; his stories express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Andersen’s fairy tales, translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West’s collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well.

His most famous fairy tales include “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Nightingale,” “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Red Shoes”, “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Little Match Girl,” and “Thumbelina.”

His stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films. One of Copenhagen’s widest and busiest boulevards, skirting Copenhagen City Hall Square at the corner of which Andersen’s larger-than-life bronze statue sits, is named “H.C. Andersens Boulevard.”

Here is most beautiful illustrated Andersen’s Fairy Tales of all time by Harry Clarke. There is no parallel to Clarke’s genius treatment of the characters in the tales and it also helps that this book is profusely illustrated with 16 tipped-in color plates and 24 gorgeous black/white plates. This book was first published by Harrap in 1916 and remains one of the scarcest and most sought after illustrated Andersen’s fairy tales book.

Other books illustrated by the great Harry Clarke are also available for perusal in our gallery: Faust, The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, Selected Poems of Charles Swinburne, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Year’s at the Spring.

Art Gallery: Harry Clarke – Andersen Fairy Tales 1916