Produced by Charles Bowen, scans provided by the Web Archive Transcriber's notes: 1. Page scan scource: Web Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/serapionbrethren01hoffuoft 2. All footnotes (5 in number) are listed at the end of the book. 3. [oe] = diphthong oe. THE SERAPION BRETHREN. GEORGE BELL AND SONS LONDON PORTUGAL ST., LINCOLN'S INN. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER AND CO. THE SERAPION BRETHREN. BY ERNST THEODOR WILHELM HOFFMANN. Translated from the German BY MAJOR ALEX. EWING, A.P.D., TRANSLATOR OF J. P. RICHTER'S "FLOWER, FRUIT, AND THORN PIECES," ETC. VOL. I. LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS 1908 [_Reprinted from Stereotype plates._] PREFACE. Notwithstanding the popularity which several of Hoffmann's tales have obtained in many different countries, we are not aware of any complete or accurate translation of his works. In England they have become known in a very partial form, chiefly by the appearance of a few isolated tales in association with those of other writers, as in the 'Specimens of German Romance,' or in Gillies' 'German Stories,' which were published about 1830. Others are familiar only through the medium of a translation from a previous French version, as is the case with the well-known 'Nutcracker,'--and in this process of double dilution the Author's name has sometimes disappeared altogether. The most important attempt to present this writer to English readers is the recent publication of two volumes entitled 'Hoffmann's Weird Stories,' which contain eleven tales seven being from the _Serapions-Brüder_, two from the _Nachtstücke_, and two from other parts of his works. These stories are all separated from the setting in which, as in the present volume, they for the most part appeared, and the translator has not aimed at any completeness or method in their selection. The first attempt to give English readers a satisfactory idea of Hoffmann's work in its completeness is inaugurated by the present volume, which will be followed by the remaining portion of the _Serapion Brethren_, and in due course it is hoped by other portions of his works.