£250
FIRST EDITION, 12mo, pp.[iii]-xii, 165, [1] + frontispiece and 7 plates. Half-title and ads discarded. Later half morocco, red boards, spine bordered in gilt rules and lettered direct in gilt, edges gilt. Just a little rubbed, very lightly soiled.
Von Chamisso's fable about a man who sells his shadow to the devil in exchange for limitless wealth was first published in German in 1814. That edition was edited by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, leading to the title-page misattribution; the translator of this edition was an uncredited John Bowring. This is the third of three issues identified by Cohn, which he describes as 'rare', although his first issue by contrast is of 'the utmost rarity'. Library Hub, which does not distinguish between these issues, records 9 copies, along with 2 of the second edition which followed later in 1824.
