Dresden: For Walther, Before 18th September 1830, Three volumes bound in one: 12mo (177 x 110 mm), half title to volume 2 only, Contemporary half black calf over marbled boards, Cloth slip-case.
First Edition – One of Perhaps 10 Copies Only. This true first edition is extremely rare.
The first edition of The Water-Witch was printed by C. C. Meinhold and Sons in Dresden for the German bookseller who styled himself Walthersche Hofbuchhandlung and then distributed to Cooper’s translators and other publishers. A draft of Cooper’s agreement with Walther exists (Dartmouth College Library), dated 26 May 1830, although only signed by Cooper: “The said J. Fenimore Cooper is to receive eight copies of each sheet as it is printed, with the right to send the said sheets to his correspondents or Publishers in those Countries where he may have arrangements to that effect, and he is to receive two complete copies of the work when finished.
The novel was later published in London on 14 October and in Philadelphia on 11 December 1830.
Cooper’s Pirate Romance—forbidden by the Pope! Cooper and his family moved to Europe in 1826, where he continued to write his characteristic American tales. This sea story set in Old New York was composed mostly in Italy and first published in this very small edition in Dresden. Cooper had attempted to have it printed in Rome, but the text—telling the story of the abduction of the vivacious Alida de Barbérie by potentially supernatural pirates led by the mysterious Master Seadrift (who is actually a woman in disguise)—was deemed “wholly unfit” by the Papal censors.
Spiller and Blackburn, p.62; BAL 3845
