Title: Mermet arthat Matsyanarir Upakhyan [The Mermaid or the Story of the Fish-girl ]

Author: Translated from English by Madhusudan Mukhopadhyay

Publisher: The Vernacular Literature Committee, Calcutta.

Printer: Printed by Anund Chunder Veduntavagees at the Tuttobodhinee Press.

Date & edition: 1857

Price: 9 pice

About the book: Translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid. 
In keeping with the Vernacular Literature Society ’s general aim of spreading English ideas through vernacular literature, there is a qualifier at the beginning explaining the absurdities in the fairy tale. It points out for the naïve reader, that the gardens and palaces under the sea and creatures like the mermaid are only fictional settings and fantastic characters in an allegorical story and should not be taken as real.

Illustrations: Illustrated by wood/metal blocks, engraved by Ramdhan Das Swarnakar.

Pages: 78 

Genre: Bengali Family Library. Fairy Tale. Translation.

Source: The British Library, London.

Shelfmark: VT 1914

Pages featured
1. Title page
2. Illustration of the mermaid and the prince