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[Laderman]

TRENCK, FRIEDRICH: MEMOIRS OF FREDERICK BARON TRENCK. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 
Translated from the German original, by an officer of the royal artillery
 
[THOMAS HOLCROFT] London, Printed for T. and J. Egerton, 1788 . 2 Vols. 
Front.[portrait], 222, 221 Pp. 19 cm. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Trenck 
tells a story of himself that is full of lively illustration of the days of 
Frederick the Great. He claims that Frederick the King owed him a grudge, 
because Frederick of Trenck had, when eighteen years old, fascinated the 
Princess Amalie at a ball. But as Frederick Trenck was in 
correspondence  with his cousin Franz at the time when that his cousin was 
planning to seize Frederick the Great, there may have been better ground 
for the Trenck's arrest than he allows us to imagine. After his release 
from imprisonment in 1763, he married a burgomaster's daughter, and went 
into business as a wine merchant. Then he became adventurous again. His 
adventures, published in German in 1786-7, and in his own French version in 
1788, formed one of the most popular books of its time. Seven plays were 
founded on them, and ladies in Paris wore their bonnets a la Trenck. But 
the French finally guillotined the author, when within a year of threescore 
and ten, on the 26th of July, 1794. He had gone to Paris in 1792, and 
joined there in the strife of parties. At the guillotine he struggled with 
the executioner. It was also a best seller in the United States.Here is a 
chronicle of the American Editions : 1789, 1790, 1792 [2.], 1793[2], 
1794[2], 1798, 1799[2], 1804[3], 1806,  1808, 1810, 1814, 1815, 1816, 1818, 
1826, 1827, 1828[2], 1829, 1830, 1834, 1847, 1853, 1854, 1886[2].There seem 
to have been nearly as many editions in the UK. In both countries juvenile 
versions were also produced. It was also influential on contemporary 
fiction, for example it was used by Godwin for his novel. "Caleb Williams, 
or Things as they are," by far his finest and most influential novel. This 
First Edition though is quite a rare book.  ESTC, N10610 RLIN/OCLC, 4 Locs. 
in the USA [YUS, HHG, NDD, UWO].Between COPAC and OCLC, only  2 copies are 
found in the UK, at the BL and at Bod. A Very Good copy in later marbled 
boards, cloth backstrip and printed title. $885.00

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