Kay Nielsen: East of the Sun and West of the Moon

This is the finest version of this book that I've ever seen, and I believe I've seen them all, including the first edition with its tipped-in plates. Taschen's edition contains all 25 of the original color illustrations that us Nielsen fans are so familiar with, but thankfully in oversized (7.5" x 10.5") format. Better yet, twelve of these are newly-scanned in high-resolution from the 12 surviving Nielsen original water-colors for this book! These versions are far and away the best reproductions to date of these pieces. The book also features all of the numerous black and white pieces, also oversized. It also features beautiful close-ups from many of the color pieces, which are a revelation in themselves. What a joy to finally see the zoomed-in details of the princess's faces, knights, dragons, etc. The prefaces feature an excellent biography of Nielsen, a thumbnail history of Norway and Norse folk-tale-collecting which creates the perfect atmosphere for reading the stories, and a history of the pre-WW1 British gift-art-book. And best of all, the book not only contains a sampling of paintings from Nielsen's other books, but a couple of pieces from private collections that I've never seen before! I was expecting an updated facsimile of the original 1914 first edition, but this book goes far and above that expectation. This is a beautiful book, worthy of the subject matter and the artist, and deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of any lover of beautiful books. Thank you, Noel Daniel and Taschen! P.S.- Back in the 1970s, David Larkin and the Peacock Press did a series of pretty decent monographs featuring the work of Nielsen, Rackham, Dulac and many other classic illustrators. These books were as good as it got back then, using affordable '70s technology, though the quality of reproduction in those books was nowhere near the quality in this new Taschen edition. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Taschen and Noel Daniel took the Peacock Press approach light-years further using modern technology and design skills? To have all of Nielsen's paintings, including those done for the unpublished "A Thousand And One Nights", collected into a Taschen volume or two, as well as companion portfolio volumes of the complete works of John Bauer, Edmund Dulac, and others, re-scanned from originals where possible, would be truly mind-boggling! A dream come true! I can dream, can't I?? 2018/04/03- A dream of mine has come true- I hear that Noel Daniel and Taschen are publishing a very classy (and expensive- $300!), limited-to-5000-numbered-copies, 16" x16" portfolio of all of the illustrations Nielsen did for "A Thousand And One Nights". Apparently it is a boxed set containing all 21 (I think) individual prints taken from the "strikingly beautiful" (as it says in the description) original water colors, as well as black and white drawings, and a sizeable book featuring the illustrations again, close-ups, and background information about the illos and this publishing project. So far it's not offered on Amazon. You can check it out on Taschen's website. It looks to be a beauty. These "Arabian Nights" pieces were never published until David Larkin's "The Unknown Paintings of Kay Nielsen" was published in 1977. I loved that book, and have always hoped to see these pieces presented properly. I have no doubt that Taschen's book is going to be incredible. Addenda- 4/7/2018- The Taschen "A Thousand And One Nights" book and folio arrived this evening. It is beyond my wildest hopes. Measuring 16" x 16", it consists of a portfolio of all 21 illustrations, and a separate book containing the prints, associated essays, info about Nielsen and the Tales, and synopses of the Tales, and close-ups of the illustrations, all contained in a beautiful illustrated box with felt trimmings. I think this is the most beautiful book/folio I've ever seen. I'll write a thorough review at some point, if Amazon offers the book. We'll see.

Pre-ordered this for my wife - of Swedish heritage - for Christmas. It's hard for me to tell if this is strictly Norwegian tales or those from all of Scandinavia, but I would think anyone from that region (or not!) would enjoy it. The book itself is sturdy and well-crafted, and it comes with a cover/sheath as depicted. Nothing to write home about. The illustrations, however, are beautiful. Given past publications of this book, they are the primary allure, and they are indeed worth it. Kay Nielsen brings the tales alive. The style is unique and Renaissance-esk; it is not photorealistic or "clean," while not straying anywhere near cartoony. The images shown by Amazon are true to the quality of the printed page. Cracking open the book for the first time was a joy. If I had one complaint, it would be that drawings are not evenly dispersed throughout the book. For instance, I was hoping for something a little more elaborate for Three Billy Goats Gruff (even if it's only two pages long), particularly given the recurring roll trolls play within Norwegian culture. This is not enough to downgrade my rating, as I certainly would not expect/want drawings on every page, but it is something worth mentioning. Regardless, it is a beautiful book, and I would highly recommend it. PS: Thanks for getting it to me before Christmas!

Absolutely stunning book chock full of full color illustrations - a steal for $35! Something like this could easily cost double that.

The book looks brand new. Beautiful. Thank you for packing it so protectively.

Great book!

The illustrations by Kay Nielsen are exquisite. There is a chapter on Norwegian folk tales, another on the life and art of Kay Nielsen, and a third on the art of book illustration, before the stories begin on p. 88. Even these early chapters are full of gorgeous illustrations. The stories are traditional and easy to follow, but told in language that, for children, might require some explanations from adults, as some less familiar words and phrasings are used.

I collect fairy tale books of specific children's book illustrators including Kay Nielsen and have had various prints of this book over the years, replacing them with better versions when possible. As others helpfully posted, this version seems to have the full complement of black and white drawings and color plates for the stories and the image quality is excellent. The listing has nice image examples and I am including a couple of my own as well.

Kay Nielsen’s illustrations are simply stunning. This print edition is beautiful and does his work justice. The original fairytales and their illustrations are included along with much welcomed commentary about the artist. I purchased this book for myself but children would enjoy it too.

No slip cover otherwise beautiful

Beautiful illustrations throughout.

This review is one year in the making and refers to both ISBN 978-3-8365-7022-0 (the small size) and ISBN 978-3-8365-3229-7 (the full size) of Taschen's Kay Nielsen's East of the Sun and West of the Moon, old tales from the North in English (but I assume it will apply to the same book in other languages) First the bad: These aren't reading copies, the small is an abridged version of the original collection missing 5 of the 15 stories in the original version, the tales included are: East of the Sun and West of the Moon The Blue Belt Prince Lindworm The Lassie and Her Godmother The Husband Who Was to Mind the House The Three Princesses of Witheland The Giant With No Heart in His Body The Widows Son The Three Billy Goats Gruff The Three Princesses in the Blue Mountain The big version does include the other five: The Lad Who Went to the North Wind Soria Moria Castle The Princess on the Glass Hill The Cat on the Dovrefel One's Own Children are Always Prettiest All of these short except for Soria Moria, and The Glass Hill. Soria Moria castle been very similar to the other two tales with 'Three Princesses' in the title. The three essays at the beginning are the same in both. The book is a little hard to read due to the size of the print and the typeface used, which is exactly the same in both, the only difference being the layout on the big version which is in two columns and printed on a very light cream paper as opposed to a single one on the small, which is printed in white paper that is slowly yellowing 13 months after I first bought it thinking it was the full version and maybe 2 years after it was printed. As a final con both are bound in art paper that will stain if your not careful, if none of this deters you the small is a much more convenient copy due to its size and price. And even when it has 192 pages, 24 more than the big, the thinner white pages are less see-through than the thick cream ones from the big. And for the extremely biased pros: GET BOTH! When I first added this product to my cart I wasn't aware that it came in two sizes or how expensive it was supposed to be so I saw a good price and just bought it. When I received it I soon realized my mistake but it's SO pretty and adorable I kept it anyway, plus it comes with a sheet of stickers with a few of the illustrations inside the book. I didn't even cared about a tiny scuff on one of the corners or that the hardbacks barely qualify as such, they certainly are rigid but are far from what one expects of "hardbacks" (they are the same thickness of a credit card and can bend like one). And realizing it didn't have all the 15 tales also did not make me return it. There are only five black and white drawings missing (from four of the tales not included, two of them from Soria Moria, The Cat does not have any) and the birds and leaves design used as tailpieces on the original book and almost every other reprint. However despite its size all the color illustrations are almost the full size of the page and I believe either the same or slightly bigger than the ones included on the original 1914 edition and all its subsequent reproductions (Folio Society, Calla Editions, etc). Plus this being Taschen the quality of the them is SUPERBE and instead of using as a base the illustrations as previously printed in 1914 they went to the trouble of rephotographing the twelve surviving original artworks meaning you definitely won't get this level of detail anywhere else, the closeups included in the beginning of the book are worth it alone! and again I'm only talking of the small sized book so far which is a little shorter and a little bit wider than a regular book. As for the full size you get all the good things from the small (except the stickers) plus the missing tales and B&W illustrations, only this time most the color illustrations are even bigger (the B&W illustrations vary in size between the two, you will find some are bigger in the smaller book, the same can be said about some of the pictures accompanying the essays) and if possible more stunning! If they ever release them in posters like they did a few decades ago with other artworks I'M BUYING THEM! As a final note on the printing of the illustrations: they are warmer in coloration compared with every other version you can find online WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE FULL IMAGE, the gold looks orange and some of the characters look sunburned. On the closeups however they can look so pale you'll wonder whether your looking at a reproduction in grey-scale. Although this consistent on both editions. The endpapers are trimmed on the small sized book. The whole text is printed in black save for the first page which is white on the small but the big uses gold, white an black. But again GET THEM BOTH! If you can and they aren't ridiculously above the price Taschen originally asked (I believe 15 and 40 USD respectively) Ps: the small version is the exact same size as the Grimm's Fairytales and Hans Christian Andersen books, they even have the same number of pages, are also bound in paper and come with a sticker sheet/postcard. But of all those three this is the one that feels of a better quality, the paper in which is bound feels thicker and has a more visible grain that really makes the color and details of the illustrations pop. The other two are bound in the same paper as the full size edition of this book while the full size edition of Grimm's and Andersen fairytales are bound in cloth and are smaller.

Adorei, não é fácil encontrar um livro do Kay Nielsen, ainda mais, tão lindo. Gostei do tamanho, folhas e nem tem o que falar das ilustrações lindas. E os contos, sou super fã!!

Beautiful & well made book. Gorgeous artwork & gd paper quality