The time has come to finish this monster project, and release the results into the wild; I have therefore set a date for release – Sunday 1
For the first time ever in English, The Complete Norwegian Folktales and Legends of Asbjørnsen & Moe is offered in two paperback editions. (Ebook will follow.)
The Annotated Edition
This flagship edition is the most comprehensive edition of Asbjørnsen & Moe that has ever been published in any language; its three volumes encompass the following:
- 150 published folktales and hulder tales and folk legends, including:
- 122 folktales
- 28 hulder tales and folk legends
- A score of texts appearing in English for the first time
- Three folktales added to the collection for the first time
- Original prefaces from eight editions
- Jørgen Moe’s substantial scholarly introduction to the Norwegian folktales
- More than 350 illustrations by Theodor Kittelsen, Erik Werenskiold, Otto Sinding, Hans Gude, Adolph Tidemand, August Schneider, Johan Eckersberg, etc.
- Asbjørnsen’s and Moe’s original notes on the majority of the folktales; these:
- Note the variant(s) the collectors used to compose each folktale
- Sketch out other variants they collected
- Compare the Norwegian folktales with similar traditions from other regions
- Newly-researched editor’s notes on every folktale and hulder tale and folk legend; these:
- Identify the collector responsible for the composition of each text
- Note collection data, including tale type, geographical origin, collector, informant, and date of collection
- Sketch biographical details of informants, where known
- Give previous publication and translation details
- Trace historical and literary sources
- Draw attention to points of particular interest
- A comprehensive bibliography in each volume
Just the Stories
For the first time in English translation The Complete Norwegian Folktales and Legends of Asbjørnsen & Moe simply contains all 150 folktales and hulder tales and folk legends published by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882), arranged according to the order of Samlede eventyr (3 vols. Oslo: Gyldendal. 1936), which has become the standard Norwegian edition. Three folktales have also been added to the collection for the first time.
This edition is fully illustrated with artwork by Theodor Kittelsen, Erik Werenskiold, Otto Sinding, Hans Gude, Adolph Tidemand, August Schneider, Johan Eckersberg, etc. Here, however, there are no introductions and no appendices of notes, following Asbjørnsen’s revelation that to many readers, “the scholarly appendices are an insignificant, unimportant, or incomprehensible ballast, which also makes such a book disproportionately more expensive.”
This edition will also be forthcoming in ebook format.