NODIER Charles. Smarra ou les Démons de la nuit, songes romantiques, traduits de l'esclavon du comte Maxime Odin. Paris, Ponthieu, 1821; in-12, [4]-212 pp, bound circa 1870 in half garnet morocco with corners, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, gilt head. Rare first edition. Following his taste for the Orient, Nodier presented his text as a translation of an Illyrian text. He removed this deception in the new preface to the second edition (1832). The tale encompasses four dream stories linked to Illyrian superstitions about vampirism and witchcraft. Among the Dalmatians, Smarra is the non-primitive evil spirit of the nightmare. "This unprecedented text, published in 1821 and not very successful when it first appeared, is now considered a founding text of classical fantasy" (Tamara This-Rogatcheva, Les fondements théoriques de Smarra ou les Démons de la nuit).