Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/292

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. OCT. 10,

The next is :

"" The Life of Baron Frederick Trenck ; containing his adventures, his cruel and excessive sufferings during ten years' imprisonment at the fortress of Magdeburg, by command of the late King of Prussia ; also Anecdotes, historical, political, and personal. In three volumes. Translated from the German by Thomas Holcroft. Fourth Edition. Vol. I. London : Printed at the Minerva Press for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-street. 1817." Octavo. I., p.l.+ iii-xii + 1-345; II., p.l.+2 + l-311 ; III.,p.l.+ 6+5-359 pp. " Printed by J. Darling, Leadenhall Street,

Xondon," appears on the p.l. of vols. i.-iii. ;

" Printed by J. Darling, Leadenhall-Street,

London," at the end of vols. ii. and iii. ; and

"" Printed by J. Darling, Leadenhall-street,

.London," at the end of vol. i.

The third volume of the above is entirely

taken up with

" Anecdotes of the life of Alexander Schell, an officer of the guard, in the fortress of Glatz, who delivered me from prison on the 26th of December 1746, and deserted in my company. Written as a Supplement to my own History.' 1

The following, of many abridgments which were published in the form of chap- books, are taken from Holcroft' s version :

Jl The Life and Surprising Adventures of Frederick Baron Trenck. Carefully corrected and abridged. To which is added a short supple- msnt ; Giving an Authentic Account of his more recent Transactions, till he fell a Victim to the prevailing system of Anarchy in France ; being sentenced to the Guillotine by the French Convention. [Vignette.] Stirling : Printed by C. Randall. 1802." Duodecimo, 1-24 pp.

" The Surprising Adventures of Frederick Baron Trenck, giving an account How he was confined in a Dungeon, with Chains of 68 pounds weight, and Was afterwards Guillotined in France, in the time of the Revolution, 1795. [Vignette.] Falkirk : Printed and sold by T. Johnston. 1820." Duodecimo, 1-24 pp.

I have the following records of American

editions :

"" The Life of Baron Frederick Trenck ; containing his adventures ; his cruel and excessive suffer- ings, during ten years imprisonment, at the fortress of Magdeburg, by command of the late King of Prussia ; also, anecdotes historical, political, and personal. Translated from the German, by Thomas Holcroft. Printed at Boston : by J. Belknap and A. Young, for B. Guild, J. Boyle, B. Larkin, D. West, and E. Larkin, jun. sold at their respective book- stores, and by the printers, at their office in State-Street. MDCCXCII." Sm. octavo, front. +6 +7-417 pp.

Also editions at

Philadelphia : Printed by William Spots wood, Front-Street, 1789. [Duodecimo, I., 4 + 1-152 ; II., 1-159 pp.

Philadelphia : Printed and sold by W. Wood- house, at the Bible, No. 6, South Front-Street, 1792. Duodecimo, 4+5-345 pp.

New York : Printed for William Falconer, No. 132, Water - Street, 1799. Duodecimo, 2 +3-14 4 pp.

Boston : Published by T. Bedlmgton, No. 31, Washington Street, 1828. Duodecimo, 2+3- 264 pp. (Stereotyped at the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry.)

Albany : Published by J. Munsell, 78, State Street, 1853. Octavo, 2+6-12+13-100 pp.

This last (Albany) edition, which appeared in a " Library of Americana," is interesting as the only issue which indicates the true source of Holcroft's translation. On the title-page we read " Translated from the French by Thomas Holcroft." Though every other edition I have seen which refers to the source at all says " from the Ger- man," it is my opinion that Holcroft did not know German at that time, and that he made his translations from one of the French versions of 1788. Cf. discussion of this point infra, under 'The German Hotel,' 1790. ELBRIDGE COLBY.

Columbia University, New York City.

(To be. continued.)

DICKENS AND YARMOUTH POTTERY. The visitor to the Tolhouse Museum at Great Yarmouth should, if he knows his Dickens well, be pleasantly reminded of a passage in ' David Copperfield ' :

" I had my own little plate, with a brown view of a man-of-war in full sail upon it, which Pe^gotty had hoarded somewhere all the time I had been away, and would not have broken, she said, for a hundred pounds." Chap, viii., ' My Holidays, Especially one Happy Afternoon.'

The object which lately broiight these words back to one visitor at least bore the label : " Yarmouth Plate Decorated with ship, and inscribed on ribbon ' The Victory 110 guns Lord Nelson's Flagship,' signed at base ' Absolon. Yarmo. No. 25.' "

Mr. William Carter, the Curator of the Museum, who has made a special study of the subject, has very kindly informed me that

" the so-called Yarmouth pottery was not made here, but appears to have been obtained unglazed and in perfectly plain condition and decorated by

Wm. Aosolon .Little or nothing is known about

the Absolons. They nourished between 1790 and 1820, and generally signed only one or two pieces in each complete set."

Mr. Carter is of opinion that the ware was obtained, not only from Lowestoft, but also from the Staffordshire potteries. The scene of much of ' David Copperfield ' is laid in or near Yarmouth, and attempts are made in more than one way to introduce local colour. Dickens had an exceptional eye