Dryaden Et Eventyr fra Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867

First edition.

Bound in full marbled paper, with a light brown morocco spine label; original wrappers preserved. Spine ends, corners and joints slightly rubbed; minor marginal stain to rear wrapper.

Rare first edition of Andersen’s tale about an ill-fated dryad often compared to “The Little Mermaid” (1837). Both feature a feminine nature spirit longing to shed her form to enter the human world, with fatal consequences.

An exceptional copy, inscribed by Hans Christian Andersen: ”Fru Grøn / en venlig Erindring om Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867. / Ærbødigst / H.C. Andersen” (To Madame Grøn / a kind remembrance of the 1867 Paris Exhibition / With my highest regards / H. C. Andersen).

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Andersen’s stay in Paris in 1867 inspired this story set during the Exposition Universelle. It was then that he met the dedicatee Ada Grøn (née Courtois), along with her daughter and husband, the Danish wholesaler L. J. T. Grøn. The inscription is documented by Andersen himself in a diary entry dated 28 April 1870, published by the H. C. Andersen Centre in Odense.

From 15 April to 9 May 1867, Hans Christian Andersen visited the Paris Exposition Universelle and was enchanted by it: “It would be a simplistic error to imagine Andersen as a pre-ecologist, a sentimental, ethereal faun moved solely by nature. This deserves an essay in itself. Andersen had a global, non-hierarchical vision of the world, far removed from nostalgic reveries [...] The science of his time fascinated him and stirred his curiosity and enthusiasm: the wonder of electricity, the microscope of course, which reveals what lies beyond appearances, photography, and all the inventions that announced themselves, exalting speed, moving images, and flight. Indeed, that era was the very age of fairy tales, and its material was far from depleted.” (Isabelle Jan, “Andersen, écrivain de toujours ?”, La Revue des Livres pour Enfants, n^o 226). The Dryad perfectly illustrates the wealth of inspiration he drew from his Parisian experience. Andersen translates his impressions of modern life—caught between wonder and skepticism—through the figure of a dryad, a female tree spirit living in an ancient oak in the French countryside, dreaming of discovering the human world. One day, her wish is granted: an extraordinary event sees her tree uprooted and replanted in the heart of the Paris Exposition Universelle. Freed from her roots, the dryad can now closely observe human life. She discovers the city, its splendor, art, pleasures, and suffering. But this privilege comes at a cost: severed from her native soil, the dryad is doomed to die young. Her brief yet intense earthly life ends in a final vision of the world’s beauty and sorrow.

The parallels with Andersen’s major masterpieces are unmistakable, especially the leitmotiv that brought him fame: the powerful yearning of his characters to change their nature. As Ane Grum-Schwensen notes: “In Andersen’s case, it is as though a highly conscious recycling of internal intertextual elements takes place, creating a wider network linking the works together. This becomes particularly evident when, for example, in ‘the archives’, one finds a note outlining the reciprocal connections among the many elements Andersen employed in The Dryad, The Little Mermaid, The Ice Virgin, and The Snow Queen.” (Ane Grum-Schwensen, “Images littéraires et recyclage dans les manuscrits d’Andersen”, Genesis, 48, 2019).

A rare inscription by Hans Christian Andersen, whose name remains familiar to children past and present. This exceptional copy was presented to one of the few individuals who witnessed the birth of this Parisian Little Mermaid.