Nell in Bridewell - Part 3

As promised, in this part we'll share what we know (and it's not very much) about Lenchens Abschied or Nell's Farewell - An Addendum to Nell in Bridewell. (Click on the image to see FULL sized)

As I mentioned in Part 2, Sir Henry was able, through connections in the German National Library, to obtain an electronic copy of this work. That was, in my opinion, a terrific accomplishment. For our readers fluent in German, you can download a copy from Library Genesis here:

Lenchens Abschied

(Please refer to the directions posted in Part 1 for downloading from Library Genesis.)

Naturally with the arrival of this work, we solved one puzzle as we've been looking for Lenchens Abschied for a very long time. Unfortunately, now that we have it, we are faced with a whole new bunch of new puzzles:

1. Who wrote it?

2. What is this book's relationship to Lenchen im Zuchthause

3. When will we have a "readable" English translation

To start off, on the authorship here are the possibilities:

1. Wilhelm Reinhardt

2. Wilhelm Reinhard

3. Someone/anyone who wanted to "piggyback" on the success of Lenchen im Zuchthause

On the cover above, it clearly shows the author as Wilhelm Reinhardt. Is this simply a printing error when they meant Wilhelm Reinhard, the inspiration behind Lenchen im Zuchthause? Remember this is titled "An Addendum to Nell in Bridewell" and printed in 1906. Wilhelm Reinhard was born on 1 September 1776 in Kirchberg (Hunsrück) in Rhineland-Palatinate and died on 26 November 1858 in Paris.  Consequently, IF this book is really an addendum/addition to the original book, Wilhelm Reinhard could NOT possibly have written it. He passed away almost 50 years before the book came out.

Further confusing things is there was a man named Wilhelm Reinhardt, who published in 1873 Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales in German.  Here we have a man who was comfortable taking other's works and publishing them in Germany. Is it possible he came across a copy of the original 1840 Lenchen and simply published parts of the story that were discarded in that 2nd printing in 1872?

This question loops us right back to Wilhelm Reinhard, because if, indeed, Lenchens Abschied is nothing more than a "recovery" of Reinhard's story, then Wilhelm Reinhard is the true author.

Then there is the third option, that the entire story of Lenchens Abschied is truly new and an addition to the original story. In this case, anybody could have written it! 

So, how do we sort this out?  Well, the very first thing we need to do is get our hands on an 1840 version of Lenchen im Zuchthause.  Once we have it, we need to compare it to the version of Lenchen that came out in 1872 (remember with censor's approval) AND to Lenchens Abschied.  This will take time and a lot of effort, but we are committed to seeing this thing through. So, stay tuned.

Next, comes the question of the relationship of Lenchens Abschied to Lenchen im Zuchthause.  I can say that the language, style, characters, and the actions of the characters all seem very, very consistent with Lenchen im Zuchthause. To me, it "feels" like I am reading a continuation of Nell in Bridewell with no pause in the action at all. So, whether Lenchens Abschied is a recovery of discarded parts of Reinhard's story or a very skilled writer "piggybacking" on his story, the end result is the same - it's much enjoyable read. Saying another way, I enjoyed Lenchen im Zuchthause and I am equally enjoying Lenchens Abschied.

Remaining issue is when will I have completed a "readable" translation into English to post here?  

Well, I'm more than halfway through, but it is a struggle. I use three translators and all three are "choking" on the incredibly long, complex, old German sentences. Obviously, to simply convert those complex sentences into long English sentences would make for a totally "unreadable" story. Thus, I have to deconstruct, reconstruct, and finally polish off with modern terms to make a readable story.

In Part 4, I plan to post the first letter from Marie to Helen.