The Mysteries of Berlin, from the Papers of a Berlin Criminal Officer.

£480 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

One of the more significant early detective fiction titles, published in Germany the year before, with this the first edition in English published the same year as Edgar Allan Poe's Tales, considered by most collectors as the first great work of detective fiction. Thiel's novel is a key work in the 'Mysteries of [put your city name here]' trend of the time, and accounted as one of the better titles in this sub-sub-genre: 'The German language responded more vigorously to the new genre: Paul Thiel's Die Geheimnisse von Berlin ("The Secrets of Berlin," 1844) was immediately translated in New York as The Mysteries of Berlin (1845) with the business like subtitle From the Papers of a Berlin Criminal Officer. This was issued in ten parts at twelve and a half cents, and at a full 300,000 words was better value than Judson—it is also a strongly developed multi-stranded story with its own confidence. Several survivors head off to New York at the end and the cover blurb asserts the book has been "universally pronounced far superior to M. Sue's Mysteries of Paris."' Stephen Knight, The Mysteries of the Cities: Urban Crime Fiction in the Nineteenth Century, 2012. First edition in English; 8vo; 10 engraved plates by P.Habelmann, some minor offsetting and very occasional spotting, but overall internally very good; contemporary half sheep, rebacked with later cloth, edge wear; 291pp.; 10 plates. Hubin IV, Addenda; not in Queen's Quorum.

• Binding: Hardcover

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