The Daily Valdemar No. 32: April 13

Valdemar Andersen, cover for Mesters Ring (The Master's Ring) by Carit Etlar.
Published in 1905 by Gyldendal.

Today's moment of calm is the enchantment of the too much.

Carit Etlar was the nom de plume of a hugely popular author, who had written a plethora of novels and short stories in the 19th century on Denmark in the late Middle Ages/Renaissance. In the decades after this death in 1900, publishers would capitalize on his popularity. Since his readers probably owned his books already, the publishers continuously created new series of his works to lure readers to buy another meter of his books to display in their bookcases.

The binding, gilding and presentation of such a series were each time a major selling-point and so the publisher would have asked of Valdemar Andersen to go all out, when he created the covers for a series of 10 works in 1905-1907. A story by Carit Etlar would incorporate actual historical figures such as a king. The king, Christian II, who saves the day in the short story Mester's Ring was dethroned in real life, which probably only added to the flair his presence would give to the story. To this Etlar added heroes and scoundrels in copious amounts, first and foremost honest and study protagonists of the lower social classes; all young and seeking their luck to prove themselves and merit their loved one.

The cover portrays any hero of a story by Etlar. His sword centers the cover so that we recognize his valiance serving his master's riches and rights in the background. His horse with its stout legs tells us where the two of them come from with its hooves directly on the bare earth - from which grows stylized flowers that are continued on all sides of them creating for a vibrant carpet à la mille fleur. Everything is drenched in red with dots of white to accentuate that all of this before us is pure Danish history.

Which of course is Valdemar's playful take on the myths upon myths, which made Etlar's knights and peasants' tales so popular. The cover is setting the tone to let the reader's own mind take over and unfold from there.