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Research Guides

Books and Ebooks

Books are central to literary studies as both primary sources and secondary sources, providing scholars with original texts, biography, and critical analysis of literary works.

  • Primary-source books in literary studies consist of original literary works themselves, but also firsthand accounts by writers such as diaries or correspondence.
  • Secondary-source books in literary studies include biography and literary criticism, offering analyses, interpretations, and evaluations of Andersen, his works, and their reception.
  • Translations and adaptations of original works can be considered secondary sources, or treated as primary sources if being analyzed in their own right.
     

To find and access books and ebooks available to UW affiliates, use UW Libraries Search.

UW Libraries Search

UW Libraries Search logo  

Advanced Search | FAQ | Known Issues

Find Books in UW Libraries

Using UW Libraries Advanced Search, select Show Only: UW Libraries + Summit to find books and ebooks accessible to UW users. Follow these guidelines to find Hans Christian Andersen books.

SUBJECT

Select the Subject filter and search a writer's name to find books about them and other secondary sources. Narrow your search by adding another subject term combined with the Boolean operator AND.

 

AUTHOR

Select the Author/creator search filter to find a writer's literary works, personal narratives, and other primary-source writings.

 

AUTHOR AND SUBJECT

Narrow your search for primary sources by adding a Subject search to your author search. Enter the writer's name in the Author/creator filter and try some of these terms in the Subject filter.

Collected Works

Selected Personal Narratives

Selected Literary Works

Selected Biography

Selected Criticism and Interpretation

UW Special Collections

The University of Washington is fortunate to hold hundreds of rare Andersen works in Special Collections, including adaptations, translations, and more. The foundation of Special Collections' Andersen holdings was from the personal collection of Andersen biographer Elias Bredsdorff (1912–2002), acquired by the Libraries ca. 1980. It has continued to grow since then and contents can be viewed in Special Collections.

Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery

UW Libraries Search is the first place to look, providing access to UW and Summit collections directly available to UW borrowers. If you need a book that you are unable to find in UW Libraries Search, you can request it using the Libraries' free Interlibrary Loan service. Borrow books and other materials from local or international libraries (allow time for delivery), or request a scan if you just need a chapter.

WorldCat

WorldCat is a global library union catalog, searching the catalogs of thousands of global libraries, with the most comprehensive coverage available of North American library holdings. Use the main WorldCat interface, or the FirstSearch interface preferred by many users. Use WorldCat to find books at U.S. and international libraries beyond UW and Summit.

International Library Catalogs

WorldCat's international coverage is not comprehensive. For Nordic topics the best way to explore and search for books and other physical materials is to search the catalogs of libraries based in the relevant country. Danish libraries, like other Nordic libraries, are centrally well-funded, with user-friendly, comprehensive resources available online. Find books in the Royal Danish Library using REX, and at libraries throughout Denmark using the bibliotekDK union catalog.

Ebook Collections

Ebook collections allow you to search and access books' full text online. Try searching for Andersen in these collections to find adaptations, translations, and secondary sources in books.