THE BRAVO OF VENICE. A ROMANCE. Translated from the German by M. G. Lewis. London, Paris, New York & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1887. 16mo, pp. [i-iv: ads] [1-5] 6-192, original decorated gray wrappers printed in dark blue. First printing (?) of this edition. Number 44 of "Cassell's National Library," edited by Henry Morley, issued weekly in paper wrappers (as here) or in cloth. This is a later issue with 104 "National Library" titles listed on the inner wrappers, and the first page of inserted catalogue stating that 209 volumes in the "National Library" series have been published so far. However, the publisher's printing code on page 192 is "30.1187," which would indicate that the sheets were printed in November 1887. This fine non-supernatural Gothic tale, perhaps the most popular of his lesser works, was pretty freely adapted by Lewis from ABAELLINO, DER GROSSE BANDIT (1794), a popular romance by Johannes Heinrich Daniel Zschokke. The first edition of Lewis' version was published in London in December 1804 (with most title pages dated 1805) and was first published in America, as ABAELLINO, THE BRAVO OF VENICE, in Baltimore in 1809. Summers, A Gothic Bibliography, p. 252. Summers, The Gothic Quest, pp. 267-71. A very good copy, nicely rebound with original wrappers preserved, in half cloth and boards with leather spine label. (#107190).
Price: $45.00
No statement of printing.