Three gold colours are used the spine is a slightly brighter gold, and the page edges are shiny and gilt-edged, plus there is a gold ribbon bookmark attached. The paper throughout is glossy, and most pages are bordered with patterns and old gold surrounds. It has a feature reminiscent of medallions in old books in this case an inset glossy illustration of a mermaid.

It is a beautiful, sumptuous book, the semi-matt purple cover slightly textured and embossed, giving almost a 'padded' feel. In all Hans Christian Andersen wrote 156 fairy tales, of which forty are in this luxury, large format edition, to represent the cream of the crop. Hans Christian Andersen once said, 'Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.' And his life certainly was an extraordinary rags to riches story. Wind tells of Valdemar Daae and his daughters. In contrast to such folklorists as the Brothers Grimm, Anderson’s tales are grounded in the real and often focus on the significance of small or overlooked things. Second, he set his tales in his own land and time, giving rise to his loving descriptions of the Danish countryside. First, he composed them in the vernacular, mimicking the language he used in telling them to children aloud. Writing in the midst of a Europe-wide rebirth of national literature, Anderson broke new ground with his fairy tales in two important ways. Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales are like exquisite jewels, drawing from us gasps of recognition and delight.

Andersen's fairy tales book