1957 First Edition of Last Tales by Isak Dinesen – Hardcover with Dust Jacket

Title: Last Tales
Author: Isak Dinesen (pseudonym of Karen Blixen)
Illustrator/Artist: N/A (Not Illustrated / Text Only)
Genre: Fiction / Gothic Fiction / Short Story Collection
Edition: True 1957 First Edition, First Printing
Publisher: Random House, New York

Written by one of the 20th century's most accomplished literary stylists, this collection gathers twelve mesmerizing short stories crafted during the twilight of the author's career. The story brings together seven complex segments from her unfinished magnum opus, Albondocani, alongside several chilling winter fables. Brimming with supernatural undercurrents, atmospheric landscapes, and deeply moving meditations on the nature of destiny.

The atmospheric journey begins in earnest with "The Caryatids," a hauntingly unfinished Gothic tale that explores the sudden undoing of a seemingly perfect marriage. The suspense mounts when a young man happens upon a long-hidden, spring-locked tortoise-shell box. Tucked safely inside, bound tightly with a pale blue ribbon, is a packet of long-forgotten love letters passing between his mother and her secret paramour. A sudden glance at his own name written within the pages unravels a generational tapestry of ancient family secrets and lingering gypsy spells. From a drunken, midnight philosophical debate in the streets of Copenhagen to a dramatic expose on the ferocity of maternal love, each story reminds readers of the sublime, transformative power of classical storytelling.

Author Isak Dinesen (a.k.a. Baroness Karen Blixen 1885–1962): A celebrated Danish author who achieved international renown writing in both English and Danish. Born into a wealthy family in Rungstedlund, Denmark, she rejected rigid European societal structures to study fine art in Paris and Rome before relocating to British East Africa in 1914 to manage a vast coffee plantation alongside her husband. Her turbulent, defining years in Kenya ultimately inspired her autobiographical masterpiece, Out of Africa (1937). Dinesen refused to conform to modern realism, and populated her fiction collections—such as Seven Gothic Tales and Winter's Tales—with romantic ironies, supernatural occurrences, and timeless mythical honor systems. She was twice shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature, losing out to Ernest Hemingway, who famously remarked that the honor should have rightfully gone to Blixen instead.

Etsy.com/shop/TheCharmedBookshop
Visit TheCharmedBookshop.com for more books for children and collectors

Condition: Very Good/Good. Dust jacket: Wear along upper and lower edges; front top right corner is bumped; four small closed tears on the front at tail of the spine and upper edge; darkened along the spine; rubbing along edge of spine and fore edge; chipping at head and tail of the spine; two small closed tears on the back, at upper edge; crease on the back, top left. Gold embossed gray cloth cover boards: Light fading along spined and edges. Textblock: Red topstain. Inside: An owner's bookplate on the front pastedown and discoloration from binding glue along front and back hinge. Pages are clean, undamaged, and complete.