"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", also simply known as "The Nutcracker", is a literary fairy tale from 1816 by the German author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which a young girl's favorite Christmas toy, t
Title page with Hoffmann's own illustration in Kinder-Mährchen, 1816
An illustration from the 1853 U.S. edition by D. Appleton, New York.
A variety of traditional nutcracker figures
Title page of the first edition of Kinder-Mährchen
Nutcracker doll
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Nutcracker dolls, also known as Christmas nutcrackers, are decorative nutcracker figurines most commonly made to resemble a toy soldier. In German tradition, the dolls were created as representatives
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
…as "The Nutcracker", is a literary fairy tale from 1816 by the German author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which a young girl's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. The story was originally…
Original nutcracker dolls from Nussknacker Museum in Neuhausen, Saxony