Mar 12, 2009 - Sale 2173

Sale 2173 - Lot 31

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(CHILDREN'S LITERATURE.) Hoffmann, Heinrich. King Nut-Cracker or the Dream of Poor Reinhold. . . . Freely Rendered from the German . . . by J.R. Planché. Title vignette and 27 text illustrations, each a hand-colored wood engraving. 4to, pictorial boards, moderate wear at extremes, rebacked; owner's inscription on front pastedown endpaper, front and rear hinges cracked, ink stamp on title-page recto: "Vertrag vom 13. Mai 1846." first edition in english. Leipzig: Friedrich Volckmar; London: William Tegg; Joseph, Meyers & Co., [1853]

Additional Details

The Nutcracker as a popular figure in children''s stories originated with Hoffmann''s Nussknacker und Mausekönig, published in 1816. In 1851, the character appeared again in Hoffmann''s König Nussknacker und der arme Reinhold, the story from which the present book is adapted.
Hurlimann. Three Centuries of Children''s Books, p. 62; Morgan. German Literature in English Translation, 2625; Gumuchian, 3045.