Author: SAMAROW, Gregor. [ie Oskar Meding].
Title: For Sceptre and Crown. A romance of the present time. Translated from the German ..
Description: London, Henry S. King 1875. Two volumes octavo publisher's blue cloth blocked in gilt & black (some flecking, corners a touch worn). A preliminary leaf opened a bit roughly; quite a good copy. ¶ First and probably only English edition of a novel of the seven weeks war of 1866 that saw the emergence of Prussia as supreme power of Germany and led to the Franco-German war. The translator lets us know that Gregor Samarow is a non-de-plume, most likely "one of the characters described in his work as the friend and confidant of the chivalrous and unfortunate sovereign who is its principal hero." This is true enough, Meding was a Minister to George V of Hanover and ran the press. Abigail Green (in the Historical Journal v44) calls him a "notoriously unreliable character" which can only enhance his value as a novelist.

Keywords: literature fiction c19th Germany England two decker