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[ANDERSEN IN SOVIET EDITIONS] Gadkii utenok [i.e. The Ugly Duckling]

Andersen, H.

Item #2277

Moscow: Detizdat TSK VLKSM, 1937. 32 pp.: ill. 19,5х13,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Mint, small stamp of private library and its ink number on t.p.

The early Soviet edition of ‘Den grimme ælling’. Cover design and illustrations were created by L. Ossovskii.
According to the title page, it consists of the classic Russian translation by Anna Ganzen (or Hansen; 1869-1942). She married Peter Hansen, native of Copenhagen that lived in St Petersburg at that time. A couple translated together Scandinavian writers into Russian, including all works by Hans Christian Andersen, also Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Søren Kierkegaard, Johan August Strindberg, Karin Michaelis and others. After the 1917 Revolution, Peter Hansen left the country, but Anna remained in Soviet Russia. Their works were highly appreciated in the USSR as well. In 1930, the Leningrad department of the All-Russian Writers’ Union celebrated the 40th anniversary of the joint translation activity of the spouses. Nevertheless, books began to credit her as the only translator.
All Soviet editions by Andersen are noteworthy because most works by this strongly religious author couldn’t appear in an atheist state unchanged. In 1937, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ was published in languages of various ethnic groups in the USSR. Two years later, Ossovskii also designed a Komi edition of ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $450.00