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EXTRAORDINARILY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN. 1805-1875. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen. Et dramatisk Digt," published in Harpen, Tredie Aargang No. 32, image 1
EXTRAORDINARILY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN. 1805-1875. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen. Et dramatisk Digt," published in Harpen, Tredie Aargang No. 32, image 2
Lot 1

EXTRAORDINARILY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT.
ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN. 1805-1875.
"Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen. Et dramatisk Digt," published in Harpen, Tredie Aargang No. 32,

21 – 29 April 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, New York

US$8,000 - US$12,000

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EXTRAORDINARILY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT.

ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN. 1805-1875. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen. Et dramatisk Digt," published in Harpen, Tredie Aargang No. 32, Copenhagen, C.A. Reizel, 1822.
4to (240 x 206 mm). 8 pp, complete, recased in plain brown wrappers.
Provenance: Hjalmar Grandsgaard-Christensen (Copenhagen antiquarian, manuscript label to upper cover in his hand).

ANDERSEN'S FIRST PRINTED WORK, A SCENE FROM "THE ROBBERS AT VISSENBERG." In March of 1822, Andersen wrote his first play "The Robbers at Vissenberg," based on his own plot after a Danish legend. Having written the play in just two weeks, he submitted the manuscript to the Royal Theatre for production. It was rejected "as being immature and unsuitable and giving evidence of the author's lack of elementary education" (Bredsdorff, Hans Christian Andersen, p 42). The manuscript did not survive but this scene was printed in the magazine Harpen ("The Harp") in August 1822, the first time anything by Andersen had appeared in print.

Jonas Collin was one of the executive board of the Royal Theatre who rejected the play, as well as his second submission Alfsol. However, as a result, Collin recommended to Frederick VI that public funds should be provided for the education of Hans Christian Andersen, establishing one of Andersen's most important relationships and setting him on the path to his future. See Andersen, Jens, Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life, 2006. "Since only a few copies are known to exist, this is an extremely rare item" (Hersholt 19A). Nielsen 1; NBL 1.

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