The version I am looking for has an illustration of a cloud at the end of the book with a face in it. Not full page, smaller illustration. Also- illustration with the sisters coming out of the water to hand a knife to the little mermaid.
This is a rarer version- I stumbled across one other person who tried to find it on a Livejournal search. She googled like I did and none of the google illustrations quite fit.
It was illustrated, only the little mermaid story. It was a small hardcover book, purple/violet I think?
Thank you!
This might be a long-shot because it isn’t particularly uncommon (especially in the UK and Commonwealth countries, at a guess), but there’s a version of The Little Mermaid in Ladybird’s ‘Well-Loved Tales’ series that is a small, stand-alone hardcover. I haven’t reread it in years but I recall an illustration with the sisters and a knife.