THE SALAMANDER: A LEGEND FOR CHRISTMAS. FOUND AMONGST THE PAPERS OF THE LATE ERNEST HELFENSTEIN [pseudonym] . Edited by [i.e. written by] E. Oakes Smith

Smith, E[lizabeth] Oakes

Published by George P. Putnam . London: Putnam's American Agency ., New York, 1848

About this Item

Octavo, pp. [1-5] 6 [7] 8 [9] 10-17 [18-19] 20-149 [150] [151-152: blank] + 6-page catalogue dated "November, 1848" at rear, flyleaves at front and rear, inserted extra title with color lithograph by P. S. Duval, four inserted plates with engravings on wood by Bobbett and Edmonds after drawings by F. O. C. Darley, original pictorial blue pebbled cloth, front and rear panels stamped in gold and blind, spine panel elaborately stamped in gold, all edges plain. First edition. The story is dedicated by Smith to James Fenimore Cooper, whose writings were a major influence on Smith's fiction, but here she follows in the footsteps of Washington Irving. Packaged as a Christmas gift book -- in the tradition of Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. "This short novel mixes together archangels, elementals, jeweled dancing toads, elaborate (and heterodox) Catholic theology, Neoplatonism, Germanic folk legends, astrology, alchemy, not to mention a word written in fire in a burning triangle underneath a 'huge brown creature studded with crimson' sitting in a cavern magically glimpsed through the ground -- a word that, if spoken, would confer absolute dominion and absolute damnation on the speaker -- mixes these and other elements (including a tragic love story) into one of the earliest full-blooded American supernatural novels, a complex and thought-provoking work that should be rescued from obscurity and given careful consideration. "The author deserves praise, among other reasons, for daring to set a fantastical romance on American soil, a secluded glen west of the lower Hudson River Valley in early colonial times, 'disinclined as our people are to recognize the materials for a national literature amongst our own traditions and our own wild and peculiar scenery.' Against the homely particularity of this setting, the author sets in motion events that have their origin in aeons past, and address themes that are on the same scale of immensity. "The glen is loaded with iron ore, which the first European settlers, blond-haired and blue-eyed, turn into steel -- and weapons -- much to the dismay of the original Indian residents, who pack up and leave. The master of the forge in the current (second) generation is Hugo, a skilled artisan and good master, but, 'having traveled abroad and busied himself with many philosophies, had less the pious gentleness of his father.' When his workers ask that the furnace be shut down in accordance with the German belief that every seven years such a Sabbath rest must be given the fire or else it will breed a salamander (a fire elemental) who will spread disaster when it escapes from the furnace, Hugo refuses. Sure enough, the salamander begins to stir inside the furnace, seen by all who look, including Hugo, who looks upon it with admiration rather than terror. Just as it is about to emerge, Hugo's wife, a saintly woman, summoned from her sickbed by another onlooker, Margery, enters with a crystal pitcher of holy water. She sprinkles this on the fire seven times, saying words each time that no one else could understand.' At the end of this, she collapses and dies, and so does the fire. "Soon after, at the christening of the two infants she left behind (little Hugo and Mary: twins?), their father crosses the threshold of the church with his left foot first (thus inviting bad luck). When Margery, now in charge of the children, enters (with her right foot), the priest meets her and the children with a shower of holy water. A flash of light makes the boy cover his eyes and Margery shouts, 'The Salamander!' In her shock she drops the boy, who instantly vanishes, swallowed up by the ground. Mary's reacts to the holy water by closing her eyes and falling into a trance for seven years. "The spell is broken when a strange little boy suddenly appears by her bedside with a crown of precious jewels for her, apologizing that they aren't flowers. She wakes up just as he disappears. She grows up as a wild, elfin creature, at home outdoor.

Seller Inventory # 157076

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE SALAMANDER: A LEGEND FOR CHRISTMAS. FOUND AMONGST THE PAPERS OF THE LATE ERNEST HELFENSTEIN [pseudonym] . Edited by [i.e. written by] E. Oakes Smith
• Publisher: George P. Putnam . London: Putnam's American Agency ., New York
• Publication Date: 1848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • Supernatural