First edition. 12mo; pp xii, 257. Frontispiece and half-title present. Contemporary marbled boards, edges speckled, marbled endpapers, skilfully rebacked, raised bands, gilt lines and contrasting label to style, occasional light spotting, overall a very clean example of this notable first edition. Merimee was a romantic writer, who made up these poems and accounts as a form of Orientalism, featuring vampires, love stories, a Barcarole and so on drawn from the Ottoman Balkans. They succeeded in helping to make his name in literary circles.