I remember the first time I saw Michaela Helms' cover artwork for the German editions of Redwall, Mossflower, and Mattimeo many, many years ago.
It was those latter two covers that really fascinated me: Slagar the Cruel's prominent placement, with a long, glorious mask on Mattimeo, while on Mossflower, our heroes are actually riding on the backs of the hares.
These illustrations were completely different from the US and UK iterations I was previously privy to. And now, at long last, these three editions of the German Redwall Saga have entered the Redwall Wiki library.
Helms also provided the interior illustrations for these books, as well as for a few other series entries, but I believe these are the only ones that she drew the covers for, which was the main appeal for me. Thienemann was the publisher, and they hit stores in 1998.
I received the books from independent booksellers in Germany - and I must say, with standard/normal shipping, waiting for them was the longest process yet - approximately a month and a half from shipping time to Redwall Wiki HQ, each, as they were from separate businesses. And with no tracking numbers, you can't help but wonder if your books are lost. Of course, everything arrived safely.
The immediate thing to observe about these editions is their bulkiness; Redwall. Der Sturm auf die Abtei (444 pages), Mossflower. In den Fängen der Wildkatze (464 pages) and Mattimeo. Die Rache des Fuchses (463 pages) take up some serious real estate on the bookshelf.
Additionally, the title and author text on the binding is backwards/upside-down. At least, compared to any other book I've ever owned. I'm not sure if this is a German thing, or just Thienemann. And if it's unclear what I mean: look at the titles on your bookshelf. To read them, you have tilt your head to the right. To read these titles, you have to tilt your head to the left. In other words, if you're holding one of these, face-up in your hands, the title on the side is upside-down.
All three books have the exact same map, which is rather beautifully illustrated, and includes locations from later in the series too, so I can't help but wonder if it also appears in the non-Helms books. The map appears twice in each book: inside the front cover, and inside the back cover.
Like the English-language version, each novel is split into three "books." But what's interesting here, is that each "book" receives a full page illustration! I've included one from each below.
Full page illustrations for Redwall include an amalgamation or group of good-guy characters (Book 1); the rats of Cluny the Scourge (Book 2); and a very threatening Asmodeus (Book 3, see below!).
Redwall. Der Sturm auf die Abtei
Full page illustrations for Mossflower include Martin the Warrior captured in Mossflower Woods (Book 1); Gonff the Mousethief's famous crab dancing sequence (Book 2, see below!); and Martin the Warrior battling Tsarmina Greeneyes.
Mossflower. In den Fängen der Wildkatze
Full page illustrations for Mattimeo include Slagar the Cruel (Book 1, see below!); General Ironbeak (Book 2); and the slaves of Malkariss (Book 3).
I've also included three of Helms' chapter icons from each book as well. Worth noting, Orlando the Axe doesn't carry an axe - it's a club.
Mattimeo. Die Rache des Fuchses
Now, to address some interesting and amusing differences.
Mattimeo arrived with a bright green wrapper around it, and it's quite aged, so I think the books may have originally been sold this way. Here's the text, and Google's translation:
Front:
Spannend bis zur letzen Seite. Aufregende Abenteuer, garantierte Gänsehaut - weltweit über eine Millions Fans!
Exciting to the last page. Exciting adventures, guaranteed goose bumps - over a million fans worldwide!
Back:
Schmöker, bei denen man bereits auf die kommenden Bände schielt. Atemlos spannende Mischung aus Märchen, Fabel und Fantasy.
Books that make you look forward to the upcoming volumes already Breathtakingly exciting mixture of fairy tales, fable and fantasy.
And finally, the funny part:
On the copyrights pages for Mossflower and Mattimeo, this line appears: Redwall-Fans aus der ganzen Welt treffen sich im Internet (Redwall fans from all over the world meet on the Internet), with a link to the official site, Redwall.org, as well as a link to another site, for which there is no possible explanation: www.geocities.com/Area51/6407/redwall.html
Remember, these books were published in the late 1990s, and the Redwall Online Community (and the internet) was a much different place - it was vast. But what was this random Geocities page doing here? I jumped onto the Internet Archive to investigate, and lo and behold, found 'Cyberbadgers Redwall Page' (insert laughing emoji here).
I was around at that time, and while I'm not sure who Cyberbadger was, I really hope he or she is reading, because your website was published in Germany! Out of all of the 1990s ROC websites, it's befuddling why Thienemann chose this one, a very simple list of books and old links, and how exactly they discovered it.
Enjoy the illustrations. Does your country have an edition of Redwall that we're unaware of, or that you'd like to see featured? Is there a foreign edition you'd like to see up close? Let us know!
Miscellaneous German Redwall saga comparisons, and the map:
In 2022, German publisher Cross-Cult began publishing new German editions of Redwall. Read about them here.
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