Back Maria Schweidler, die Bernsteinhexe German La bruja del ámbar (novela) Spanish ساحره کهربایی Persian
 Title page of The Amber Witch, English translation | |
| Author | Wilhelm Meinhold |
|---|---|
| Original title | Maria Schweidler, die Bernsteinhexe |
| Translator | E. A. Friedlander |
| Language | German |
| Set in | 17th-century |
Publication date | 1838 |
Published in English | 1844 |
The Amber Witch is a German novel published by Wilhelm Meinhold (1797–1851) in 1838. Its German title is Maria Schweidler, die Bernsteinhexe. The novel was originally published as a literary hoax which purported to be an actual 17th-century chronicle. Meinhold later admitted to the hoax but had some difficulty in proving that he was its author. In 1844, it was published in Britain as The Amber Witch in two English translations: one by E. A. Friedlander and another, more enduring, translation by Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon.[1]
Lady Duff Gordon's translation was very popular with the Victorians and went through numerous editions, including a luxurious one in 1895 illustrated by Philip Burne-Jones.[2] The novel was a favourite of Oscar Wilde's when he was a boy,[3] and in 1861 it was made into an opera, The Amber Witch, composed by William Vincent Wallace.[4] Wallace's opera has faded into obscurity, but the novel on which it was based has continued to be republished, both on its own and in anthologies.
- ^ Introduction to a 1928 edition of Mary Schweidler: The Amber Witch, published by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, p. viii.
- ^ "An Old and Famous Story" (PDF). New York Times. 17 March 1895. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ Wilde, Oscar (1998) p. 3.
- ^ Bleiler, E.F., ed. (1971). Five Victorian Ghost Novels. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. vii. ISBN 978-0-486-22558-6.