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A Swashbuckling Novel - for Pennsylvania Dutch Readers.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:75.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 200.00 USD
A Swashbuckling Novel - for Pennsylvania Dutch Readers.
An unusual item: Pennsylvania Dutch printing of the lively then-best-selling novel on brigands and robbers, Rinaldo Rinaldini der Rauber-Hauptmann. Eine romantische Geschichte unsers Jahrhunderts, in brey Theilen... 'Approximately, "Rinaldo Rinaldini the Robber-Captain. A romantic Story of this Century, in Three parts...."] (By Christian August Vulpius et al). Printed by Carl A. Bruckman, Reading, Penna., 1820. Stated first American edition. Original mottled paper over boards, calf spine. 4 1/4 x 7 1/4, three parts published and bound together, each with title page, 331 pp. in all. Five full-page woodcuts, all depicting Rinaldo as a womanizer. About a third of paper covering chipped from covers, exposing boards; frontispiece woodcut with tear across top, but repairable; spine worn and dry, somewhat shaken, text varying from light foxing to bright, and internally about very good to about fine. Delightful conversation piece, and a rare work, with the unlikely combination of early crime fiction - for German-American readership. The story showed remarkable durability, becoming a silent adventure movie in 1927, and, in 1968, a German television series featuring its titular Italian swashbuckler. No copies on abebooks.