¶Henningsen's novel was first published in English by Henry Colburn in 1845; it carried the subtitle, 'The Russian Peasant Girl'. The author was an adventurer, mercenary, political agitator, and sometime writer, who travelled extensively and was often to be found in fields of conflict. The translator of this first French edition is identified in the BnF as Cyprien Robert, a noted linguist and founder, in 1848, of the Society for the Emancipation of the Slav People. Both the English and French editions are very uncommon.