Harvard Classics Volume 17

Hans Christian Andersen (2 April 1805 -- 4 August 1875) was born in the quiet provincial town of Odense in Denmark. As a boy, he was fascinated by stories and would often go to listen to the old women in the workhouse telling the traditional tales that had been handed down over the years by word of mouth.

As he grew, he turned this fascination with the oral tradition into written stories. By the time he had reached his mid-thirties, Andersen's first three novels had become very popular in Germany in Sweden, and when his fairy tales were gathered and published as a book for the first time in 1839, he became famous throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Today, his stories have left an indelible mark on the genre of fairy tales and folklore, with tales such as Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling occupying a permanent place in imagination of the modern reader.