Peter Schlemihl: from the German of Lamotte Fouqué.

London: G. and W. B. Whittaker,, 1824. First Cruikshank edition of Chamisso's famous story of a man who sells his shadow to the devil for a bottomless wallet; this is an attractive copy in the original boards of the rare third issue and features some of Cruikshank's most memorable illustrations, which have been described as "an exceptional achievement" (Burton, pp. 103 & 122). Peter Schlemihl was first published in German in 1814, edited by Friedrich Lamotte-Fouqué, a German officer of cuirassiers and prolific author of poetry, drama, and prose fiction, best known for the fairy romance Undine. His text was used for the present translation by the uncredited John, later Sir John, Bowring. Of Cruikshank's eight designs, two in particular stick in the memory: that of Peter chasing his shadow into a wood, and wearing seven-league-boots to escape the attentions of a polar bear. There are three issues of the first edition: the first has the title page dated 1823; the second corrects the date and has a hyphen in the publisher's address, "Ave-Maria lane"; the third removes the hyphen. According to the great Cruikshank collector Albert M. Cohn, "the first is of the utmost rarity, the second very scarce, while the third is rare" (Cohn). Duodecimo. Uncut in original pink paper boards, printed paper label to spine. Housed in a custom red cloth solander box. Etched frontispiece and 7 similar plates by Cruikshank. Joints cracked but firm, spine rather worn, some offsetting from plates to text, still a very good copy in the fragile original boards, with the terminal single advertisement leaf. Cohn 475; Anthony Burton, "Cruiskhank as an Illustrator of Fiction" in Brian Patten, ed., George Cruikshank: A Revaluation, 1992.