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Facts, Figures and Fancies from Transylvania

[WOMEN TRAVELERS]. Gerard, Jane Emily De Laszkowski.

The Land Beyond the Forest: Facts, Figures and Fancies from Transylvania. By E. Gerard . . . With Map and Illustrations.

Place and Imprint: Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1888.
Edition: First edition.
Bibliographical References: Theakstone, Victorian & Edwardian Women Travellers, page 162.
Condition: Some light foxing; bindings a little rubbed; small tears to the cloth on the spine of volume two and a few light stains; tear in the fold of the map, without loss; very good copy.
Book ID: 29078

Physical Description

2 vols, 8vo, original mustard-yellow cloth, gilt lettering, untrimmed. Frontispieces, nine plates, 30 illustrations, and folding map.

Comments

A thorough examination of Transylvania by English novelist Emily Gerard (1849-1905), who lived there for two years. She writes extensively of the culture and society, the mix of races (particularly the gypsies), literature (including translations of poetry), folk-lore, and the towns where she lived. She described Hermanstadt as "a Transylvanian Cranford." "Life at Hermanstadt always gave me the impression of living inside one of those exquisitely minute Dutch paintings of still-life . . ." And she devotes a chapter to vampires and werewolves, which is said to have been an influence and source for Bram Stoker. The engraved illustrations are by Herr Emil Sigerus of the Transylvanian Carpathian Society, and the photographs of Saxons, Romanians, and gypsies are by Madame Kamilla Asboth.

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