Post-1800 Literature

[ARABIAN NIGHTS]. [SCOTT, Jonathan, translator]. The Arabian nights entertainments, carefully revised, and occasionally corrected from the Arabic. To which is added, a selection of new tales, now first translated from the Arabic originals. Also, an introduction and notes, illustrate of the religion, manners and customs, of the Mahummedans by Jonathan Scott. London, printed [by T. Davison] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1811.

£4750

Large paper copy of the first edition of the translation by the orientalist Jonathan Scott (1754–1829), translated in part directly from the Arabic and partly an adaptation from the French Galland edition, and here bound in a superb Bedford binding.

HAUFF, Wilhelm. Sämmtliche Schriften, geordnet und mit einem Vorwort versehen von Gustav Schwab. Erstes [- sechsunddreissigstes] Bändchen. Stuttgart, Brodhag, 1830.

£12,500

A possibly unique copy, with all of the fragile original wrappers preserved, of the first edition of the German poet, novelist and fairy teller’s works.

Included are his famous fairy tales, amongst them Der kleine Muck (‘The Story of Little Mook’), Kalif Storch (‘Caliph Stork’) and Die Geschichte von dem Gespensterschiff (‘The Tale of the Ghost Ship’), which are set in the Orient, and Der Zwerg Nase (‘Little Longnose’), Das kalte Herz (‘The Cold Heart or The Marble Heart’) and Das Wirtshaus im Spessart (‘The Spessart Inn’), which are set in Germany.

Other noteworthy titles are Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satan (‘Memoirs of Beelzebub’), Der Mann im Mond (‘The Man in the Moon’), the historical romance Lichtenstein; Romantische Sage aus der wuerttembergischen Geschichte, which was inspired by the novels of Sir Walter Scott, the short novels Die Bettlerin vom Pont des Arts (‘The True Lover’s Fortune; or, the Beggar of the Pont des Arts’), his masterpiece, Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller (‘The Wine-Ghosts of Bremen’), as well as some short poems.

PUSHKIN, Aleksandr Sergeevich. Poëmes dramatiques d’Alexandre Pouchkine traduits du russe par Ivan Tourguéneff et Louis Viardot. Paris, Hachette, 1862.

£2250

Scarce first French edition of five works by Pushkin. Translated by Turgenev, the work helped cement Pushkin’s reputation abroad.

The collection includes an important Preface, and translations of Boris Godunov, the Little Tragedies (‘The Covetous Knight’, ‘Mozart and Salieri’, and ‘The Stone Guest’) and Rusalka, each with commentary.

Poëmes dramatiques was the first of Turgenev’s translations of Pushkin to be published under his name, arousing a wide critical response in both France and Russia. Though extremely successful, it was, surprisingly, not reprinted. 

[SHELLEY]. HOGG, Thomas Jefferson. The life of Percy Bysshe Shelley. London, Edward Moxon, 1858.

£750

The rare first printing and an excellent copy of Thomas Jefferson Hogg’s (1792-1862) authoritative if aborted biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Hogg, an intimate friend, was approached on the poet’s death by the Shelley family who requested he undertake the present work; however, following the publication of the first two volumes the family expressed dissatisfaction and denied Hogg further access resulting in the final two planned volumes remaining incomplete and unpublished.

Raised in County Durham, he and Shelley became friends at University College, Oxford. Hogg was expelled with him in 1811 for his share in writing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism. They remained close until Shelley’s death in 1822.

TOLSTOY, Lev Nikolaevich. Photographic portrait. Moscow and St. Petersburg, J[oseph] Daziaro, c. 1892-1894.

£3850

A fine, large, half-length portrait of the author dressed in the garb of a peasant.