"THE ANCIENT BEAST LURKING WITHIN THE HUMAN PSYCHE": FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF MARCHARD'S CLASSIC NOVEL, THE WOLF MAN, 1925, BASIS FOR "THE FIRST 'TALKING' WEREWOLF FILM," IN ORIGINAL DUST JACKET

MACHARD, Alfred. The Wolf Man (The Were-Wolf). London: Thornton Butterworth, (1925). Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition in English of Machard's 1922 French novel, Le Loup Garou, basis for two of the very first werewolf films, both now believed lost, the 1923 French silent film, Le Loup Garou, and the 1932 German film, Gehetzte Menschen—the first sound film about werewolves—a splendid copy in the original dust jacket.

"Nothing has come to symbolize the idea of the ancient beast lurking within the human psyche better than the concept of the werewolf" (Curran, Werewolves, 8). Known in French lore as the loup-garou, the werewolf was one of film's earliest ventures into the psychology of horror—and Machard's novel remains one of the first literary sources for cinema's fascination with the wolf man. The novel, first published in French in 1922 as Le Loup Garou and in this first edition in English as The Wolf Man, won early praise in a contemporary British review as "akin to Galsworthy's Escape. But Machard has approached his story from a more sensational angle, and his, moreover, gives it several twists that render it particularly amenable to cinematic treatment" (Illustrated London News). It is unique as the basis for two key films about werewolves. The first of these is the 1923 silent French film, co-directed by Pierre Bressol and Jacques Roullet, with the same title as Marchard's original French novel. That film, now lost, "tells the story of a murderer… who goes on the run with his young son. Not wanting to tell the boy the truth about his crimes, the father instead claims that a werewolf is chasing them… The second adaptation of Le Loup Garou, known as the first 'talking' werewolf film, Gehetzte Menschen, was released in 1932." In this German film (aka Haunted People), the protagonist claims he is chased by the German version of a "big bad man" or "wolf man" (Roby, Werewolves, 44-45). Also believed lost, it was directed by Austrian-Jewish filmmaker Friedrich Feher, and starred his son as one of the film's lead actors; both were forced to flee Germany not long after the film's premiere. First edition, first printing with "First published 1925" on copyright page: no statements of editions or printings. First issue dust jacket with "Thornton Butterworth" and price of "7/6" on spine. Encyclopedia of French Film Directors I:146. Goble, Complete Index: 845, 299. Hubin II:542.

A fine copy, highly desirable in the original dust jacket.