Editing Karl May (section)

=== Early work ===
In his early work, May wrote in a variety of genres until he showed his proficiency in travel stories.<ref name=LowskyKM>Lowsky M. ''Karl May'' Metzler, Stuttgart, 1987, vol 231 p38.</ref> During his time as an editor, he published many of these works within the periodicals for which he was responsible.

* ''Das Buch der Liebe'' (1876, educational work)
* ''Geographische Predigten'' (1876, educational work)
* ''Der beiden Quitzows letzte Fahrten'' (1877, unfinished)
* ''Auf hoher See gefangen'' (''Auf der See gefangen'', parts later revised for ''Old Surehand II'') (1878)
* ''Scepter und Hammer'' (1880)
* ''Im fernen Westen'' (reworked in ''Old Firehand'' (1875) and later in ''Winnetou II'')(1879)
* ''Der Waldläufer'' (reworked in "Le Coureur de Bois", a novel by [[Gabriel Ferry]])
* ''Die Juweleninsel'' (1882)

The shorter stories of the early work can be grouped as follows, although in some works genres overlap. Some of the shorter stories were later published in anthologies, for example, ''Der Karawanenwürger und andere Erzählungen'' (1894), ''Humoresken und Erzählungen'' (1902) and ''Erzgebirgische Dorfgeschichten'' (1903).

* [[Adventure fiction]] and early travel stories (for example, ''Inn-nu-woh, der Indianerhäuptling'', 1875)
* [[Crime fiction]] (for example, ''Wanda'', 1875)
* Historical fiction (for example, ''Robert Surcouf'', 1882)
* Humorous stories (for example, ''Die Fastnachtsnarren'', 1875)
* Series about "the Old Dessauer", [[Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau]] (for example, ''Pandur und Grenadier'', 1883)
* Stories of villages in the [[Ore Mountains]] (for example, ''Die Rose von Ernstthal'', 1874 or 1875)
* Natural history works (for example, ''Schätze und Schatzgräber'', 1875)
* Letters and poems (for example, ''Meine einstige Grabinschrift'', 1872).