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The Author's Edition of H. C. Andersen's Works: An American‐Danish Collaboration
Author(s) -
Rowland Herbert
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.2005.00849.x
Subject(s) - danish , scholarship , subject (documents) , poetry , classics , history , philosophy , library science , literature , law , art , political science , linguistics , computer science
The Author's Edition of H.C. Andersen's works, published by Hurd and Houghton of Boston between 1869 and 1871, is the only edition of collected writings by Andersen in English and reflects the most important episode in the relationship between him and the United States. While variously illuminated by Andersen scholarship, the edition has never been the subject of a specialized investigation. Following an introduction to the life and work of Horace E. Scudder, the editor in charge of the undertaking, the present study traces the origin and progress of the edition primarily as observed in the correspondence between Scudder and Andersen, correcting certain misapprehensions found in earlier research. In the process it examines matters such as the original intention to include a volume of poetry and plays and offers concrete reasons for the ultimate failure of the edition as well as evidence that its failure may not have been as great as commonly thought.