Publication
"The Emperor’s New Clothes" was first published with "The Little Mermaid" on 7 April 1837 by C.A. Reitzel in Copenhagen as the third and final installment of the first collection of Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. The first two booklets of the collection were published in May and December 1835 and met with little critical enthusiasm. Andersen waited a year before publishing the third installment of the collection.
Traditional Danish tales as well as German and French folktales were regarded as a form of exotica in nineteenth century Denmark and were read aloud to select gatherings by celebrated actors of the day. Andersen’s tales eventually became a part of the repertoire and readings of "The Emperor’s New Clothes" became a specialty of and a big hit for the popular Danish actor Ludvig Phister.
On 1 July 1844, the Hereditary Grand Duke Carl Alexander held a literary soiree at Ettersburg in honor of Andersen. The author was on the verge of vomiting after days of feasting and speaking various foreign languages but managed to control his body and read aloud “The Princess and the Pea”, "Little Ida's Flowers", and "The Emperor’s New Clothes".
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Famous quotes containing the word publication:
“Of all human events, perhaps, the publication of a first volume of verses is the most insignificant; but though a matter of no moment to the world, it is still of some concern to the author.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I would rather have as my patron a host of anonymous citizens digging into their own pockets for the price of a book or a magazine than a small body of enlightened and responsible men administering public funds. I would rather chance my personal vision of truth striking home here and there in the chaos of publication that exists than attempt to filter it through a few sets of official, honorably public-spirited scruples.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)
“An action is the perfection and publication of thought. A right action seems to fill the eye, and to be related to all nature.”
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