The (literally 'Ghost Book' or 'Book of Spectres') is a collection of German

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

written by August Apel and

Friedrich Laun Friedrich August Schulze (1 June 1770 – 4 September 1849) was a German novelist, who wrote under the pen name Friedrich Laun. Schulze was born in Dresden. His first novel, ''Der Mann, auf Freiersfüssen'' (1801), was favorably received. He wrot ...

and published in five volumes between 1810–1815. The fifth volume was also published as the first volume of Apel and Laun's ' (1815–1818), which served as a continuation of the series.

Stories

Translation

"" was translated by

Thomas De Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quince ...

and published anonymously as "The Fatal Marksman" in ''

Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations ''Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations'' is an anthology of translated German stories in three volumes, published in 1823. Publication The book was announced as being prepared for publication in January and February 1823. All thre ...

'' (1823). It was also translated as "Der Freischütz; or, The Magic Balls" by George Henry Borrow in ''Tales of the Wild and the Wonderful'' (1825), and anonymously as ''The Original Legend of Der Freischütz, or the Free Shot'' (1833). De Quincey began a translation of "" in 1824, but it was never published. "" was translated in ''

The Literary Magnet ''The Literary Magnet'' was a British magazine. Started as a weekly magazine in 1824 by Egerton Brydges and his son using the pseudonym Tobias Merton, it went through a number of editors, becoming a monthly magazine towards the end of 1824, was bo ...

'' (vol 2, 1824).

Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès (; 24 June 176713 June 1846) was a French geographer, author and translator, best remembered in the English speaking world for his translation of German ghost stories '' Fantasmagoriana'', published anonymously in 18 ...

translated "", "", "", "", and "" into French in (1812). The first three of these were then translated from French to English by

Sarah Elizabeth Utterson Sarah Elizabeth Utterson (3 November 1781 – 22 September 1851) was a British translator and author. She anonymously translated most of ''Fantasmagoriana'' (1812) as ''Tales of the Dead'' (1813), which also included her own short story " The St ...

in ''

Tales of the Dead ''Tales of the Dead'' was an English anthology of horror fiction, abridged from the French book ''Fantasmagoriana'' and translated anonymously by Sarah Elizabeth Utterson, who also added one story of her own. It was published in 1813 by White, ...

'' (1813). The remaining two were translated into English by A. J. Day, and included together with Utterson's translations in ''Fantasmagoriana: Tales of the Dead'' (2005).

Marjorie Bowen Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (née Campbell; 1 November 1885 – 23 December 1952), who used the pseudonyms Marjorie Bowen and Joseph Shearing, was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and ...

also translated the first three from the French in ''Great Tales of Horror'' (1933) and ''More Great Tales of Horror'' (1935). Robert Pearse Gillies translated the first two directly from the German in ''German Stories'' (1826), and Charles John Tibbits produced an abridged translation of the first in ''Terrible Tales: German'' (1891). "" is itself a translation, and the original French story has been translated a number of times into English as

Princess Rosette Princess Rosette (french: La Princesse Rosette) is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Red Fairy Book''. Italo Calvino included an orally collected tale, ''The King of the Peacocks'', in his '' ...

Influence

Freischütz

The first tale in the first volume is "", a retelling by

Apel Apel or APEL may refer to: Places * Apel, Limpopo, town in Sekhukhune District Municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa * Ter Apel, town in the municipality Vlagtwedde in the northern Netherlands Other uses *Apel (surname) * APEL or ...

of the Freischütz folktale. It formed the inspiration for

Weber Weber (, or ; German: ) is a surname of German origin, derived from the noun meaning " weaver". In some cases, following migration to English-speaking countries, it has been anglicised to the English surname 'Webber' or even 'Weaver'. Notable pe ...

's opera ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 181 ...

'' (1821).

References

Book series introduced in 1810 German short story collections German folklore Ghosts in written fiction {{story-collection-stub