London: Hodder & Stoughton, [1914]. First edition. Signed limited edition, number 4 of 500 copies signed by the artist. Quarto (277 x 223 mm). Frontispiece and twenty-four colour plates, tipped within gilt and black frames, with captioned tissue guards, head- and tailpieces throughout the text, all by Nielsen. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in blue morocco, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, raised bands, pictorial title block gilt on front cover after the original, roll to turn-ins gilt, burgundy endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Some mild spotting and toning, an excellent copy in an attractive binding. Fine.

"By general consent, Nielsen's most spectacular and celebrated book is East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Old Tales from the North, translated from the Norwegian of Peter C. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe (devoted collectors of Scandinavian folk lore in the mid-nineteenth century). First published in 1914, this beautiful volume has been reprinted many times up to the present day... Nielsen's unique style and talent for combining the eerie and fantastic with beautiful decorative effect was at its peak with this set of illustrations" (Dalby, The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration, p. 90). The richness of Nielsen’s color images for this lavish illustrated book of Norse pagan mythology was achieved by a four-color process, in contrast to many of the illustrations prepared by his contemporaries, such as Rackham and Dulac, which characteristically utilized a traditional three-color process.

East of the Sun and West of the Moon was Nielsen's second illustrated book, preceded by In Powder and Crinoline in 1913. Nielsen was the son of the director of the Royal Danish Theater and, after World War I, himself became principal designer for the Danish State Theater. His theater background led to years of artistic involvement in the Walt Disney Company, where his art was used in Fantasia. He also provided concept art for iconic films like Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Little Mermaid (1989), which was not released until decades after his death; and he was credited as inspiring the visual development of Disney films as recent as Frozen (2013).

Grolier Children’s 100, 66. Richard Dalby, The Golden Age of Children’s Book Illustration, 2002. (Item #5746)