KING MATTHIAS; and the Beggar Boy adapted from the Hungarian of Baron Nicholas Josika
first edition
1896 · London
by GAYE, Selina
London: T. Nelson, 1896. First English edition. 8vo, pp. 124 + adv. Bound in little rubbed blue cloth, engraved frontispiece and contemporary prize bookplate on the endpaper. A good copy. Josika, (1794-1865), Hungarian novelist, was born on the 28th of April 1794 at Torda in Transylvania, of aristocratic and wealthy parents. After finishing the usual course of legal studies at Kolozsvár (Klausenburg), he in 1811 entered the army, joining a cavalry regiment, with which he subsequently took part in the Italian campaign. On the battlefield of Mincio (February 8, 1814) he was promoted to the grade of lieutenant. He served in the campaign against Napoleon, and was present at the entry of the Allied Troops into Paris (March 31, 1814). So great was Josika's literary activity that by the time of the revolution (1848) he had already produced about sixty volumes of romances and novels. (Inventory #: 51423)