The Nutcracker Treasury

by Mint Editions, Mint Editions (Contribution by)

Overview

Follow the tale of a beloved Christmas toy and his battles against the evil Mouse King from origin, to retelling, to adaptation and translation in The Nutcracker Treasury.

Containing four major versions of the work, The Nutcracker Treasury features the original tale by E.T.A. Hoffman, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816); the retelling, The History of a Nutcracker (1847) by Alexandre Dumas; the adaptation for stage, The Magic Nutcracker (1925); and a self-proclaimed, “translation, mutilation, and termination,” Princess Pirlipatine and the Nutcracker (1919) by O. Eliphaz Keat.

Professionally typeset with a beautifully designed cover, this exclusive edition of The Nutcracker Treasury is a classic Christmas tale, reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513201191
Publisher:	Mint Editions
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Series:	Mint Editions (Christmas Collection)
Pages:	100
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	8 - 13 Years

About the Author

Bringing together one original story and three subsequent retellings, The Nutcracker Omnibus features the work of two influential storytellers—E.T.A Hoffman, who is recognized as a leading figure in German Romanticism and a pioneer of science fiction and fantasy; and Alexandre Dumas, who was one of the most universally read French authors and is known his extravagantly adventurous historical novels—as well as the renowned composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose work made him the first Russian composer to attract international acclaim; and a children’s book author, O. Eliphaz Keat, whose only listed work is Princess Pirlipatine and the Nutcracker.

Read an Excerpt

The Origin of the Treasury

The book you are about to read will in some ways be repetitive—it is, after all, a collection of adaptations and reinterpretations of a single story involving a young girl and her nutcracker. There will be many similarities, overlapping details, and familiar plot points; however, in between these bouts of sameness you will also be taken on a journey of transformation. 

The history of The Nutcracker—not to be confused with Alexandre Dumas’ The History of a Nutcracker—is an interesting one. 

Originally written by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a sort of dark fantasy that questions whether or not the story we’re being told is the feverish nightmare of a young child or a legitimate journey to an alternate reality of talking toys and diabolical mice. 

Dumas’ retelling of the story less than three decades later, is almost identical in regard to the events that transpire, but is much kinder in its presentation of the narrative—that is to say, the reader is expected to believe that what happens to Mary actually happens and become swept up in the innocence of childhood romance. 

By the time Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker sees its first performance in 1892, most all the edges of Hoffman’s original story and even Dumas’ retelling, have been sanded away in favor of a gentler, softer more consumable Christmas fairytale full of whimsy. Which, mind you, does not take into account  O. Eliphaz Keat’s Princess Pirlipantine and the Nutcracker which takes away the main plot of the young girl receiving the Nutcracker as a Christmas gift almost entirely. 

This is not to say that Alexandre Dumas, Pyotr Tchaikovsky or O. Eliphaz Keat were in any way wrong for the changes they made to Hoffman’s story; rather, this treasury concerns itself—and exists—out of admiration and amazement for the story’s ability to live on more than two hundred years after its original publication. 

The Nutcracker Treasury is a love letter to the idea that nothing ever truly dies and that great stories will continue to be passed down from generation to generation, no matter what form they may take. 

Table of Contents

The Origin of the Treasury
The Introduction From the Publisher

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
First Told By E.T.A. Hoffmann
Chapter I. Christmas Eve
Chapter II. The Gifts
Chapter III. The Favorite
Chapter IV. Wonders Upon Wonders
Chapter V. The Battle
Chapter VI. The Sickness
Chapter VII. The Story of the Hard Nut
Chapter VIII. The Story of the Hard Nut Continued
Chapter IX. Conclusion of the Story of the Hard Nut
Chapter X. The Uncle and the Nephew
Chapter XI. The Victory
Chapter XII. The Puppet Kingdom
Chapter XIII. The Capital
Chapter XIV. The Conclusion

The History of a Nutcracker
Retold By Alexandre Dumas
Chapter I: Godfather Drosselmayer
Chapter II: The Christmas Tree
Chapter III: The Little Man with the Wooden Cloak
Chapter IV: Wonderful Events
Chapter V: The Battle
Chapter VI: The Illness

The History of the Crackatook Nut and Princess Pirlipata (An Interlude)
Part I: How Princess Pirlipata Was Born, and How the Event Produced the Greatest Joy to Her Parents
Part II: How, In Spite of the Precautions Taken By the Queen, Dame Mousey Accomplishes Her Threat in Regard to Princess Pirlipata
Part III: How the Mechanician and the Astrologer Wander Over the Four Quarters of the World, and Discovered a Fifth, Without Finding the Crackatook Nut
Part IV: How, After Having Found the Crackatook Nut, the Mechanician and the Astrologer Find the Young Man Who is to Crack It
Part V. End of the History of Princess Pirlipata

The History of the Nutcracker (Resumed)
Chapter VII. The Uncle and the Nephew
Chapter VIII. The Duel
Chapter IX. The Kingdom of the Toys
Chapter X. The Journey
Conclusion

The Nutcracker
Adapted and Set to Music By Jane Kerley and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Characters
Argument
Scene I: Miniature Overture
Scene II: Arab Lullaby
Scene III: The Candy Fairy
Scene IV: The Chinese Boy
Scene V: The Reed-Flutes
Scene VI: March
Scene VII: Waltz of the Flowers

Princess Pirlipantine and the Nutcracker
Translated, Mutilated, and Terminated By O. Eliphaz Keat
Chapter I: The Princess is Born
Chapter II. The Royal Banquet
Chapter III. Ehu Dappleblock Appears
Chapter IV. The Fate of the Princess
Chapter V. Concerning the Krakatuk
Chapter VI. Ehu and the Astronomer Set Out
Chapter VII. Ehu Discovers the Nut
Chapter VIII. Nikky Appears
Chapter IX. The Krakatuk Tournament
Chapter X. Nikky Crack the Nut
Chapter XI. What Happened Afterwards
Chapter XII. The Princess Again in Trouble
Chapter XIII. The Disastrous Banquet
Chapter XIV. Ehu Tries Again
Chapter XV. The Search for the Bangalu
Chapter XVI. Ehu Contrives
Chapter XVII. The Combat