Other editions of book The Tinder Box

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author best known for writing children's stories including "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling." But he didn't just write short stories, and his intended audience wasn't restricted to children. In addition to his fairy tales, Andersen wrote poems, plays, novels, travel books, essays, and more. He hungered for recognition at home (Denmark) and abroad—and he got it! Eventually. Today, his stories can be read in over one hundred languages. But no matter what language they're in, Andersen's tales have got something for everyone. In them, you'll find beauty, tragedy, nature, religion, artfulness, deception, betrayal, love, death, judgment, penance, and—occasionally—a happy ending. They're complex tales, but since Andersen himself was pretty complex, we like to think that art imitates life. Or something like that. Includes vintage illustration!

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author best known for writing children's stories including "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling." But he didn't just write short stories, and his intended audience wasn't restricted to children. In addition to his fairy tales, Andersen wrote poems, plays, novels, travel books, essays, and more. He hungered for recognition at home (Denmark) and abroad—and he got it! Eventually. Today, his stories can be read in over one hundred languages. But no matter what language they're in, Andersen's tales have got something for everyone. In them, you'll find beauty, tragedy, nature, religion, artfulness, deception, betrayal, love, death, judgment, penance, and—occasionally—a happy ending. They're complex tales, but since Andersen himself was pretty complex, we like to think that art imitates life. Or something like that. Includes vintage illustration!

The Tinder Box Pop-Up Book written by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by noted Czechoslovakian illustrator, Vojtech Kubasta (1914-1992). Kubasta worked his entire career in Prague for Artia, the state-run publishing and trading house for Soviet Czechoslovakia. He began making Pop-Up books for Artia in the mid-1950s, he developed a simple method of cut-and-folded cardstock with a slant-cut that gave the illustrations greater volume and depth and allowed the scenes to extend beyond the edges of the page. Many of his Pop-Up books incorporated pull-tab mechanisms, adding to the tableaux's complexity. The old Czech presses allowed for the heavy application of dyes. During printing, the paper became richly saturated with color that appropriately supported Kubasta's highly stylized faux-naif design and leads to a rich illustration. Until the late 1950s, Kubasta's work was rarely seen outside of Eastern Europe. Leopold Schliesser has been credited with introducing Kubasta's work to the West. Schliesser was a Jewish banker from Prague who had fled the Nazis in 1938, and became the owner of Bancroft & Company, a London firm. During the late 1950s, Bancroft, Inc. negotiated with Artia to import the titles under the new imprint, Westminster Books. In the early 1960s, American entrepreneur, Waldo Hunt sought to bring Kubasta's Pop-Ups Books to the U.S and placed an order of 1 Million copies with Bancroft only to have Artia turn the offer down saying that they couldn't increase production. Sadly, Kubasta died before knowing the pivotal role his illustrated books played in the worldwide resurgence of pop-ups and movable books. Book is in Acceptable Condition (see photos) with wear along the Cover's corners and two pages have damage to the Pop-ups, but all the other pages are intacted. Colors are still very nice. Last page has publishers trademark with copyright. Printed in Czechoslovakia (stated). A fine example of Kubasta's work.

Rare edition with unique illustrations. Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author best known for writing children's stories including "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling." But he didn't just write short stories, and his intended audience wasn't restricted to children. In addition to his fairy tales, Andersen wrote poems, plays, novels, travel books, essays, and more. He hungered for recognition at home (Denmark) and abroad—and he got it! Eventually. Today, his stories can be read in over one hundred languages. But no matter what language they're in, Andersen's tales have got something for everyone. In them, you'll find beauty, tragedy, nature, religion, artfulness, deception, betrayal, love, death, judgment, penance, and—occasionally—a happy ending. They're complex tales, but since Andersen himself was pretty complex, we like to think that art imitates life. Or something like that.

Rare edition with unique illustrations. Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author best known for writing children's stories including "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling." But he didn't just write short stories, and his intended audience wasn't restricted to children. In addition to his fairy tales, Andersen wrote poems, plays, novels, travel books, essays, and more. He hungered for recognition at home (Denmark) and abroad—and he got it! Eventually. Today, his stories can be read in over one hundred languages. But no matter what language they're in, Andersen's tales have got something for everyone. In them, you'll find beauty, tragedy, nature, religion, artfulness, deception, betrayal, love, death, judgment, penance, and—occasionally—a happy ending. They're complex tales, but since Andersen himself was pretty complex, we like to think that art imitates life. Or something like that.

A young soldier meets a witch who tries to get him to retrieve a special box of coins. The soldier is smarter than she guesses. He soon separates her from the box - and finally from her head! Thanks to this extraordinary box, the now rich soldier finds he has a huge number of friends: so eventually he considers courting the local princess... but that will take quite a lot of doing. An audio-dramatisation with full cast, sound effects, and 'audio-ambience' created for you by AudioscapePlayers.