The author of the novel, Georg Emil Betzonich (1829-1901), is not a famous author today, nor was he very famous at the time. It is interesting, however, that Andersen kept his book in his library. The book passed to Edvard Collin, who was the universal heir to Andersen’s entire estate, when Andersen died in 1875, and also Collin kept it. It was sold at the auction of his belongings in 1886.

Betzonich was a military man and entered the academy when he was 15 years old. Most of his writings portray Danish military life, both in times of war and times of peace.

The poem-dedication reads as thus:

Hvad der har Rod i Evighed

Begynder nu i Tiden;

Mennesket fødes og man naar

Grant han blev stor fra liden.

-----

Mennesket fødes og han naar,

Hvor tid han Aaret maaler;

Sjælen er født fra Evighed,

Dens Pragt (?) vi M...(?) taaler.

Our main sources of knowledge about Hans Christian Andersen’s library come from two publications: the auction catalogue of his books, after his death, and the auction catalogue of Edvard Collin’s books ten years later. Edvard Collin was the universal heir to Andersen’s entire estate and he kept many of Andersen’s books that therefore did not enter the auction catalogue after Andersen, but that were then sold after he died. Our knowledge about these collections is gathered in Estrid and Erik Dal’s work “Fra H.C. Andersen’s Boghylde”, from 1961. Here it is stated that 75 Danish books from Andersen’s library have been located, although only ¼ of them were present at the auction of his belongings. The auction record, in other words, “is an inadequate witness to what he owned at his death, an even more so throughout his life.” (p. 12). It is, however, the best we have collected in one place. As long as we remember that he also owned books that were not present in this catalogue. 

Whereas the importance of presentation-copies from Andersen were quite overlooked at the time, Dal rightly note that ”Presentation-copies to Andersen, or books in which he has written his ownership signature, belong to him in quite another manner, and in some cases they shed rays of light on their owner, maybe even rays that enlighten otherwise unknown details.” (p.10).

Books from Andersen's library are of the utmost scarcity and almost never appear on the market. We have only ever encountered very few.