# Is "Wonderful Stories for Children" by Hans Christian Andersen; translated by Mary Howitt a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Wonderful Stories for Children by Hans Christian Andersen; translated by Mary Howitt (Chapman and Hall, 1846) is identified by: Translated directly from Danish by Mary Howitt, who had taught herself Danish and Swedish during a stay in Heidelberg out of a general interest in Scandinavian literature; that skill led to her acquaintance with Andersen and to translating two of his earlier autobiographical novels before this collection of tales. Translated from Danish.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Translated directly from Danish by Mary Howitt, who had taught herself Danish and Swedish during a stay in Heidelberg out of a general interest in Scandinavian literature; that skill led to her acquaintance with Andersen and to translating two of his earlier autobiographical novels before this collection of tales
- First-edition, first-issue copies misspell the author's name as 'Anderson' on the title page; the error was corrected to 'Andersen' in the second issue
- The volume contains four hand-colored lithographed plates, including a frontispiece, and collects ten tales including 'Ole Lukoie,' 'The Naughty Boy,' and 'Tommelise' (Thumbelina)
- Publisher imprint reads Chapman and Hall
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Hans Christian Andersen; translated by Mary Howitt |
| Publisher | Chapman and Hall |
| Year | 1846 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Translated directly from Danish by Mary Howitt, who had taught herself Danish and Swedish during a stay in Heidelberg out of a general… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Translated directly from Danish by Mary Howitt, who had taught herself Danish and Swedish during a stay in Heidelberg out of a general interest in Scandinavian literature; that skill led to her acquaintance with Andersen and to translating two of his earlier autobiographical novels before this collection of tales. First-edition, first-issue copies misspell the author's name as 'Anderson' on the title page; the error was corrected to 'Andersen' in the second issue. The volume contains four hand-colored lithographed plates, including a frontispiece, and collects ten tales including 'Ole Lukoie,' 'The Naughty Boy,' and 'Tommelise' (Thumbelina).

## Is this the true first?
Translated from Danish. Wonderful Stories for Children was the earliest to market of three rival English Andersen translations that all appeared in 1846, preceding both Charles Boner's A Danish Story-Book (Cundall) and Caroline Peachey's Danish Fairy Legends and Tales (William Pickering), making it the true first appearance of Andersen's tales in English.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Wonderful Stories for Children* by Hans Christian Andersen; translated by Mary Howitt a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/wonderful-stories-for-children
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.