Le Logis Mysterieux. [Das Alte Haus].

FULL DESCRIPTION: Le Logis Mysterieux (translation)

Bénédict-Henry Révoil. [Gerstäcker, Friedrich]. Le Logis Mysterieux. [Das Alte Haus].
S.l., [before 1875].
(23.5 x 20 cm). 208 leaves, manuscript written in ink on rectos only. Original thick paper wrappers, label pasted on front cover with the title and the translator’s name in ink. Some wear to the covers and faint scattered spotting or tanning to the leaves, but overall a near fine original manuscript in the hand of the author-translator.

The original draft of a French translation by Bénédict-Henry Révoil, Gerstäcker’s frequent collaborator:

A neatly written autograph manuscript translation of Friedrich Gerstäcker’s, Das alte Haus, which first appeared in the Munich daily newspaper Der Bayerische Landbote in April 1856, and then in book form in 1857, the same year it was published in English as The Haunted House, in London by Routledge.

The first French edition of the work, translated from the English, was published in two separately titled works in Paris: the first 16 chapters as La Maison Mystérieuse, and the second 16 chapters as Une Charmante Habitation, both by Michel Lévy, 1875. Our manuscript contains all 32 chapters as they were originally composed by Révoil.

Gerstäcker’s Das Alte Haus, which features many of the primary elements of the Gothic novel—medieval architecture, often in ruin, supernatural events populated by frightening specters or ghosts, dark passages where frightening mysteries unfold, and persecuted young women in distress—bears witness to the longevity of the genre. Révoil’s collaboration with his German counterpart also reflects the publishing tradition of near simultaneous translation and shared literary taste among French, German, and English readers of Gothic literature, of which this title is a prime example.

A close look at this manuscript shows Révoil was nearly finished with his translation. The draft is neatly written in a consistent hand, but there are numerous corrections, word changes, and erasures scattered throughout the text. In this draft there is no indication that Révoil had considered breaking the story into two parts, nor is there a similar indication in the German original.

It was likely the decision of the publisher, Michel Lévy, who began issuing translations of Gerstäcker’s work in 1874-75. Gerstäcker had died in 1872, and as Révoil had translated his German counterpart in the past, he was a natural choice for a new collection that featured six titles. Gerstäcker had died in 1872, and as Révoil had translated his German counterpart in the past, he was a natural choice for a new collection that featured six titles, all translated by Révoil, that included the two-volume translation of Das Alte Haus, i.e., our manuscript, which had not previously appeared in French. It seems likely that Levy acquired the rights to Gerstäcker’s work and to make it a more profitable project split the present work, Le Logis Mysterieux, into the two subsequently published works, allowing one work to be sold for the price of two.