The first volume presents two areas of creativity of the popular German writer K. May. The novel “Through the Desert, Through the Harem” belongs to the so-called “travel stories”. It describes the adventures of a German traveler, acting under the Arabic name Kara Ben Nemsi, and his Arab servant Halef in the Sahara desert and the Red Sea, in the valleys of the Nile and Tigris, in Mecca and the mountains of Kurdistan. Overcoming incredible difficulties and obstacles, the hero of the novel strives to restore justice, help the offended, and save people from mortal danger. The story “Robert Surcouf” tells about the adventures of the famous French corsair of the late 18th - early 19th centuries.