Chamisso, Adelbert Von The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl. Translated By William Howitt. Original Edition. New York Burgess & Stringer 1844, Wrappers Poor 42 pages, lacks front wrapper, perhaps lacks one front fly leaf, the publication has one front blank and two rear blanks, untrimmed, dog-earred, stained throughout to lower half of text, couple of tears to rear wrapper, small ink hand stamp on title page, endpapers, some pencilling at front endpaper, otherwise good. Adelbert von Chamisso (January 30, 1781- August 21, 1838), was a German poet and botanist. He was born at the ch teau of Boncourt in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family. Driven out by the French Revolution, his parents settled in Berlin, where in 1796 young Chamisso obtained the post of page-in-waiting to the queen, and in 1798 entered a Prussian infantry regiment as ensign. His family were shortly afterwards permitted to return to France; he remained in Germany and continued his military career. He had little education, but sought distraction from the dull routine of the Prussian military service in assiduous study. In collaboration with Varnhagen von Ense, he founded (1803) the Berliner Musenalmanach, in which his first verses appeared. The enterprise was a failure, and, interrupted by the war, it came to an end in 1806. It brought him, however, to the notice of many of the literary celebrities of the day and established his reputation as a rising poet. He had become lieutenant in 1801, and in 1805 accompanied his regiment to Hameln, where he shared in the humiliation of its treasonable capitulation in the following year. Placed on parole, he went to France, but both his parents were dead; returning to Berlin in the autumn of 1807, he obtained his release from the service early the following year. Homeless and without a profession, disillusioned and despondent, he lived in Berlin until 1810, when, through the services of an old friend of the family, he was offered a professorship at the ''lyce'' at Napol onville in the Vende. He set out to take up the post, but drawn into the charmed circle of Madame de Stal, followed her in her exile to Coppet in Switzerland, where, devoting himself to botanical research, he remained nearly two years. In 1812 he returned to Berlin, where he continued his scientific studies. In the summer of the eventful year, 1813, he wrote the prose narrative Peter Schlemihl, the man who sold his shadow. This, the most famous of all his works, has been translated into most European languages (English by William Howitt). It was written partly to divert his own thoughts and partly to amuse the children of his friend Ferdinand Hitzig. In 1815 Chamisso was appointed botanist to the Russian ship "Rurik," which Otto von Kotzebue (son of August von Kotzebue) commanded on a scientific voyage round the world. His diary of the expedition (Tagebuch, 1821) affords some interesting glimpses of England and English life. On his return in 1818 he was made custodian of the botanical gardens in Berlin, and was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, and in 1820 he married. Chamisso's travels and scientific researches restrained for a while the full development of his poetical talent, and it was not until his forty-eighth year that he turned back to literature. In 1829, in collaboration with Gustav Schwab, and from 1832 in conjunction with Franz von Gaudy, he brought out the Deutsche Musenalmanach, in which his later poems were mainly published. As a scientist Chamisso left little mark, although his Bemerkungen und Ansichten, published in an incomplete form in O. von Kotzebue's Entdeckungsreise (Weimar, 1821) and more completely in Chamisso's Gesammelte Werke (1836), and the botanical work, '' bersicht der nutzbarsten und sch dlichsten Gew chse in Norddeutschland'' (1829) are esteemed for their careful treatment of their subjects. As a poet Chamisso's reputation stands high, Frauenliebe und -leben (1830), a cycle of lyrical poems, which was set to music by Robert Schumann, being particularly famous.Also noteworthy are Schloss Boncourt and Salas y Gomez. In estimating his success as a writer, it should be remembered that he was cut off from his native language. He often deals with gloomy or repulsive subjects; and even in his lighter and gayer productions there is an undertone of sadness or of satire. In the lyrical expression of the domestic emotions he displays a fine felicity, and he knew how to treat with true feeling a tale of love or vengeance. ''Die L wenbraut may be taken as a sample of his weird and powerful simplicity; and Vergeltung'' is remarkable for a pitiless precision of treatment. The first collected edition of Chamisso's works was edited by J.E. Hitzig and published in six volumes in 1836. Price: USD 75.00 other currencies   order no. 18436    inquire

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