Note: Translated by an unknown hand. This translation begins: "This story is not fantastic; it is merely romantic. Are we to conclude that it is not true, its unreality being granted? That would be a mistake. We live in times when everything can happen—we might almost say everything has happened. If our story does not seem to be true to-day, it may seem so to-morrow, thanks to the resources of science, which are the wealth of the future." Among 7 "New Holiday Juveniles" advertised by its US publisher, NY Times 1894-12-15 p3; this one with 38 full-page illustrations "... The supernatural fears of the peasants of Transylvania have much to do with the first part of the book, but that is all. ..."

Synopsis: "M. Jules Verne has the knack of it. He knows how to make the scientifically romantic story. You may not know what a 'nyctalop' was, but if you saw one flapping its wings around the dark fortress in the Carpathians, you would run for it, as did Nic Deck. Jules Verne brings in all the most recent and approved scientific apparatus. Orfanik is head conjurer, and in his trial he explains how he brought into play for a wicket purpose a variety of ingenious inventions." --entire review, NY Times 1894-11-19 p3 "Jules Verne's Romance"