Bodenstedt, Friedrich von

Stockholm; Bonnier, 1884. [17x12 cm]. xxiv, 200 s. Förlagets rikt dekorerade klotband med helt guldsnitt. Nedre pärmhörnen aningen tilltryckta. Första och sista bladen lätt fläckade. Fint ex. Med Södertunas exlibris. Bodenstedt (1819-92) ""studied at Göttingen, Munich, and Berlin universities. He became a tutor in Moscow in 1840 and in 1844 wandered much further east, teaching at a school in Tiflis [Tblisi], where he learned some of the more obscure languages, including Georgian and Armenian, from a colleague named Mirza Schaffy. After his return to Germany in 1847 by way of Constantinople he was active as a journalist. He translated Russian authors, including Pushkin and Lermontov, and published a historical work on the Caucasus, 'Die Völker des Kaukasus und ihre Freiheitskämpfe gegen die Russen' (1848), and the travel book 'Tausend und ein Tag im Orient (2 vols., 1849-50), which contained a collection of poetry entitled 'Lieder des Mirza Schaffy'. These pseudo-oriental poems were at first believed to be translations, but Bodenstedt revealed in 1874 that they were his own work. In the meantime, in separate publication (1851), they enjoyed considerable success with the reading public. In 1854 Bodenstedt went to Munich as professor of Slavonic languages. [...] With the exception of 'Die Lieder des Mirza Schaffy', his poetry and plays evoked little response, and even a sequel to his great success, the poems 'Aus dem Nachlasse Mirza Schaffys' (1874), failed to revive the old magic."" (The Oxford Companion to German Literature, pp. 97). First Swedish edition.