TALES FROM THE GERMAN, COMPRISING SPECIMENS FROM THE MOST CELEBRATED AUTHORS. London: Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand, 1844. Octavo, pp. [i-v] vi-xiv [1] 2-446, nineteenth-century three-quarter leather and marbled boards, spine panel richly tooled in gold, marbled endpapers. First edition. Early anthology of German Romantic tales by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Heinrich von Kleist, Ludwig Tieck, Wilhelm Hauf, among others. Many are fantastic, including such classics as Hauff's "The Cold Heart," Hoffmann's "The Sandman" and Kleist's "Michael Kohlhaas." Also includes Hoffman's "Elementary Spirit," the only translation to date of this long tale of an alchemist's invocation of a fire-elemental. Also "Libussa" by J. C. A. Musaeus. Translations are cited by Morgan (A Critical Bibliography of German Literature in English Translation C441) as above-average and appear here for the first time in English. "Good material." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1272. One of the handful of key English-language anthologies in the early 19th century that propagated German Romanticism throughout the English-speaking world. Bleiler (1978), p. 153. Reginald 05356. p. Block, The English Novel 1740-1850, p. 177. Binding scuffed and rubbed, inner hinge repaired, text block clean, a sound, good copy. (#136331).
Price: $250.00
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