3-070-744 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

M. Erckmann, 1881. 'This double name, which is associated with the joint authorship of many popular stories of French rustic, domestic, and military life, refers to the subjects of the two Portraits engraved by us for this week's publication. Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian have been united in a productive literary partnership since 1847, and have gained favour with hundreds of thousands of readers throughout Europe...Erckmann was the son of a bookseller in his little native town, but came to Paris as a law-student. In 1847 he made the literary alliance with Chatrian, who was an usher in the town school or college of Phalsbourg. They first wrote tales and sketches for the provincial journals, but...It was not till 1859 that they gained a success in their story of "The Illustrious Dr. Matheus"...These writers had opened a fresh vein of picturesque, humorous, and romantic interest by their graphic and lifelike descriptions of rustic and domestic manners among the mixed French and German population of Alsace...We understand that Messrs. Erckmann and Chatrian have recently been engaged, with Mr. Sydney Samuel, of London, in preparing an English version of their prohibited play, "Alsace," to be performed on the London stage'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.